J 


REV.  CHARLES  H.  VAIL. 


MILITANT  AND 
TRIUMPHANT 

SOCIALISM 


BT 

Rev.   CHARLES   H.  VAIL 

cAuthor  of  "Principles  of  Scientific  Socialism, 

"The  Mission  of  the  "Working  Class," 

"Modern  Socialism,"  Etc. 


Published  by  the 

CO-OPERATIVE  PRINTING  COMPANY 
HYDE  PARK,  CHICAGO,  U.  S.  .A 

cAH  Rights  Reserved 


Copyright,  1913 

by  the 

CO-OPERATIVE  PRINTING  COMPANY 

HYDE  PARK,  CHICAGO,  U.  S.  A. 

All  Rights  Reserved 


CONTENTS 


Introductory  Definitions   7 

PART  I— MILITANT  SOCIALISM 

Prelude — Two  Vital  Philosophic  Theories  9 

I.     The  Chief  Factor  in  Social  Evolution...  11 

II.     Economic    Determinism   in    Ethics 15 

III.  Technical   E-conomic  Basis  of  Slavery..  23 

IV.  Social    Evolution    to    Reach    Its    Climax 

in    Collective    Ownership 28 

V.     The  Socialist  Theory  of  Surplus  Value  36 

VI.     Exchange  as  a  Productive  Process 44 

VII.     The   Class   Struggle   Inevitable 51 

VIII.     Scientific  Versus  Utopian  Socialism....  58 

IX.     Propaganda  and  Tactics  62 

PART  II— TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 

Prelude.     Fundamental  Principle  of  the 

New  Order 67 

I.     Abolishment  of  Exploitation 69 

II.     Industrial  Depression  to  Cease 76 

III.  Prosperity  for  All  Assured 86 

IV.  Proper  Incentive  to  Industry  Supplied..  93 
V.     Political   Corruption  to  Disappear 100 

VI.     Right  to   Life,   Liberty  and  the   Pursuit 

of  Happiness  Secured  for  All 108 

VII.     Social  and  Industrial  Evils  to  Vanish...   Ill 

VIII.     Home  and  Family  to  be  Preserved 116 

IX.     Socialism  to  Realize  a  Nobler  Humanity  132 

X.    A  New  Social  Spirit  to  Rule 137 

XI.     Concluding  Arguments    142 

Best  Books  to  Read..  .   145 


I        INTRODUCTORY        5 

DEFINITIONS 


We  must  distinguish  between  Militant  So- 
cialism and  Triumphant  Socialism.     Militant 
Socialism  is  a  movement  of  the 
Militant  and    proletariat1  class  working  with- 
Triumphant    in  the  confines  of  the  present 
Socialism      system  to  bring  about  the  rea- 
lization of  Triumphant  Social- 
ism— a  future  state  of  society  based  upon  the 
collective  ownership  and  democratic  manage- 
ment of  the  social  means  of  production. 

Scientific  Socialism  includes  both  Militant 
and  Triumphant  Socialism.  I  wish  to  set  forth 
the  fundamental  principles  of  these  two 
phases  of  Scientific  Socialism. 


1By  proletariat  is  meant  those  deprived  of  property 
in  the  instruments  of  production — the  entire  class  of 
wage  and  salary  workers,  those  engaged  in  "manual" 
and  "intellectual"  service. 


PART  I 
MILITANT   SOCIALISM 


PRELUDE 

Two  Vital  Philosophic  Theories 
Militant  Socialism  is  based  upon  two  im- 
portant philosophical  doctrines  which  owe 
their  origin  chiefly  to  Karl  Marx,  the  economic 
theory  of  social  progress  and  the  theory  of 
surplus  value.  The  first  is  elaborated  in  chap- 
ters I-IV,  the  second  in  chapters  V-VII. 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Chief  Factor  in  Social  Evolution 
The   Socialist  Theory  of  Social   Evolution 
is    called    Economic    Determination    or    the 
Materialistic  Conception  of  History. 

These    designations    are    not 

Economic      strictly  accurate,  as  the  former 

Determinism   might  seem  to  imply  economic 

fatalism,  and  the  latter  philo- 
sophical materialism.  Economic  Determinism 
might  lead  some  to  think  that  the  theory  over- 
looked the  material  and  spiritual  elements  and 
made  the  economic  influence  the  sole  factor, 
while  the  Materialistic  Conception  of  History 
might  seem  to  overlook  the  economic  element 
altogether.  But  this  would  be  an  entire  mis- 
conception. The  theory  is  not  fatalistic  in 
character  and  does  not  overlook  the  human 
factor  with  all  the  complex  elements  com- 
mon to  man.  It  does  not  exclude  ideas  or 
ideals,  which  all  will  admit  frequently  exert  a  con- 
siderable influence  in  determining  the  changes 
in  the  social  organism,  although  we  need  to 
trace  these  elements  to  their  source  in  order  to 
estimate  aright  their  value.  The  theory  merely 
teaches  that  social  progress  is  chiefly  deter- 
mined by  a  change  in  the  economic  conditions 
— the  methods  of  producing  and  distributing 
wealth.  It  is  not  claimed  that  the  economic 
factor  alone  determines  social  progress,  but 
only  that  it  is  the  principal  force  back  of  the 


12 MILITANT  AND 

• 

historical  development.  As  stated  by  Marx, 
"The  economic  condition  is  the  basis,  but  the 
various  elements  of  the  superstructure — the 
political  forms  of  the  class  contest,  and  their 
results,  the  constitutions — the  legal  forms,  also 
all  the  reflexes  of  these  actual  contests  in  the 
brains  of  the  participants,  the  political,  legal, 
philosophical  theories,  the  religious  views — 
all  these  exert  an  influence  on  the  development 
of  the  historical  struggle,  and,  in  many  in- 
stances, determine  their  form."2 

Neither  does  the  theory  overlook  the  influ- 
ence of  the  geographical  and  historical  condi- 
tions. It  recognizes  that  a  given  system  rest- 
ing upon  differences  in  these  respects  will 
produce  different  social  forms.  To  fully  un- 
derstand a  particular  method  of  production  at 
any  given  time  we  must  study  these  natural 
conditions.  A  knowledge  of  the  technical 
alone  does  not  suffice.  For  example,  the  vari- 
ous forms  of  society  which  may  arise  on  the 
peasant  foundation  are  due  to  differences  in 
the  natural  and  social  surroundings.  How- 
ever, the  technical  factor  is  the  most  impor- 
tant. 

It  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  that  the 
materialism  here  is  not  philosophical  material- 
ism— the  theory  that  interprets  all  things  in 


2Quoted  by  Seligman  in  The  Economic  Interpreta- 
tion of  History,  p.  142. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM  13 

the  terms  of  matter — but  Historical  Material- 
ism. 

The  theory,  then,  does  not  negative  the 
dream  of  Tennyson  that  there  is  in  human 
life  one 

"Far  off  divine  event 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves." 
It  does  not  mean  that  there  is  no  purpose, 
no  aim,  in  social  evolution.    The  law  of  Eco- 
nomic Determinism  is  the  law  of  the  Divine 
Method   of   human   progress.     The    Socialist 
theory  explains  this  method  in  history,  as  the 
Darwinian  theory  does  in  biology.3 

Some  have  thought  that  the  principle  would 
be  better  expressed  by  the  phrase,  "Economic 
Interpretation  of  History."  But  it  is  difficult 
to  select  any  term  that  in  itself  covers  the 
whole  ground  and  is  not  liable  to  be  misun- 
derstood. 

Let  us  now  briefly  consider  just  what  the 
theory  is.    Frederick  Engels,  in  the  preface  to 
the  Manifesto  of  the  Cornmun- 
Principle       ist  Party,  states  the  principle 
Stated         in  the  following  words:     "In 
every  historical  epoch,  the  pre- 
vailing mode  of  economic  production  and  ex- 
change, and  the  social  organization  necessarily 

3The  discovery  of  the  method  of  progress  does 
not  warrant  the  conclusion  that  the  process  is  with- 
out intelligent  direction.  Those  who  hold  that  evo- 
lution in  the  various  departments  of  nature  is  guided 


following  from  it,  form  the  basis  upon  which 
is  built  up,  and  from  which  alone  can  be  ex- 
plained, the  political  and  intellectual  history  of 
that  epoch." 

From  the  production  of  the  first  tools,  which, 
on  the  material  side,  differentiated  man  from 
the  animals,  down  to  the  latest  inventions,  it 
is  the  change  in  the  technic  which  constitutes 
the  chief  and  material  cause  of  economic  and 
social  progress.  Intelligence,  of  course,  is  pre- 
supposed, for  every  step  forward  on  the  path 
of  technical  advance  is  a  conscious  endeavor 
of  man  to  increase  his  power  over  nature.  But 
intelligence  must  be  embodied  in  technical 
appliances  before  it  can  produce  a  change  in 
the  economic  structure  of  society.  And  often 
the  direction  of  consciousness  is  determined  by 
the  economic  structure  and  the  needs  of  man — 
the  needs  give  rise  to  new  discoveries  which 
produce  certain  changes  and  new  methods  of 
life,  which  again  produce  new  discoveries  and 
lead  in  turn  to  new  needs,  etc. 


by  the  Divine  Mind  or  the  hosts  of  creative  intelli- 
gences are  not  irrational  in  their  position.  The  law 
of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  does  not  prove  that  in 
the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms  intelligent  pow- 
ers may  not  utilize  the  struggle  for  existence  to 
bring  about  variations  and  new  types  in  accordance 
with  a  definite  plan.  So  in  social  evolution,  eco- 
nomic determinism  may  be  the  law  utilized  to  secure 
human  progress.  At  least  the  Socialist  theory  does 
not  negative  this  conclusion — the  theory  is  perfectly 
in  accord  with  religious  belief. 


CHAPTER  II 

Economic  Determinism  in  Ethics 

The    law    of    Economic    Determinism    also 
throws  light  upon  an  important  phase  of  the 
ethical   problem.*     But   before 
Ethical        considering    this    question    di- 
Problem       rectly  let  us  note  that  all  moral- 
Morality       ity  is  relative — it  must  be  so  be- 
Relative       cause  it  is  a  question  of  rela- 
tions.   The  right  relation  is  moral ;  the  wrong 
relation  is  immoral.    The  object  of  morality  is 
to  bring  about  happiness  by  the  establishment 
of  harmonious  relations.    What  is  good  for  one 
man  may  not  be  good  for  another,  and  what 
is  good  at  one  time  may  not  be  good  at  an- 
other time.     Morality,  then,  is  a  relative  sci- 
ence— relative  to  the  man  himself  and  to  his 
surroundings. 


*There  are  four  recognized  schools  of  morality 
— Intuitional,  Utilitarian,  Scriptural,  and  Religious. 
The  Intuitional  bases  morality  upon  intuition — the 
dictates  of  conscience.  The  objection  to  this  is  that 
consciences  vary  with  racial  and  national  traditions, 
social  customs  and  needs,  individual  development, 
etc.,  consequently  it  does  not  furnish  a  solid  basis. 
The  Utilitarian  is  based  upon  the  greatest  good  to 
the  greatest  number.  But  this  does  not  justify  the 
exclusion  of  the  minority  from  its  canon  and  it  fails 
to  supply  an  impelling  motive.  Then  the  question 
of  what  is  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number 
is  not  self-evident  but  subject  to  debate,  and  so  fails 
to  furnish  a  sufficient  guide.  The  Scriptural  is  based 
upon  a  claimed  revelation  from  God.  But  there  are 
many  religions  and  many  revelations  and  it  is  dif- 


16 MILITANT  AND 

However  low  or  high  an  individual  may  be 
in  the  scale  of  evolution,  the  idea  of  duty  con- 
veys the  thought  of  an  inner  nature  unfolding 
itself — evolving  from  the  imperfect  to  the  per- 
fect. Now  that  is  right  which  is  in  accord 
with  the  Divine  Will  in  evolution,  and  that  is 
wrong  which  impedes  progress  and  hinders 


ficult  to  tell  just  which  one  is  to  be  regarded  as  based 
upon  Supreme  authority.  Then  the  record  is  by  no 
means  infallible.  There  is  also  a  difficulty  about 
moral  standards  founded  upon  a  revelation  given 
once  for  all.  As  a  people  evolve  that  which  was  suit- 
able at  one  time  becomes  unsuitable  at  another.  The 
Religious  is  closely  connected  with  the  Scriptural, 
although  it  is  not  dependent  upon  or  confined  to  any 
sacred  writings,  but  rests  upon  occult  knowledge 
attained  by  men  who  have  reached  an  advanced 
stage  of  development, — the  Christs,  Buddhas,  etc. 
It  affirms  that  the  only  basis  of  ethical  science  is 
to  be  found  in  religion — in  the  great  spiritual  fact 
of  the  Unity  of  the  Spirit.  I  believe  this  is  true. 
Religion  gives  the  ultimate  data  upon  which  a 
science  of  morality  can  be  built.  The  basis  of  mor- 
ality is  the  recognition  of  the  Unity, — the  unity  of 
all  souls,  all  selves,  in  the  One  Universal  Self, — 
and  therefore  right  conduct  consists  in  establishing 
helpful  relations  between  all  beings.  It  is  in  this, 
unity  of  ultimate  interests  and  identity  of  nature  that 
the  sanction  of  morality  lies.  We  find  here  the 
basis  of  Universal  Brotherhood — all  separated  selves 
are  rooted  in  the  Universal  Self,  are  parts  or  reflec- 
tions of  the  One.  This  Brotherhood,  then,  is  a  spirit- 
ual fact.  All  the  principles  of  general  morality  are 
founded  upon  the  recognition  of  this  Unity — they  are 
the  rules  of  conduct  designed  to  prevent  us  from  in- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 17 

evolution.  In  the  evolutionary  process  that 
which  is  right  at  one  time  becomes  wrong  at 
another.  As  to  whether  an  act  is  right  or  wrong 
for  any  particular  individual,  depends  on  where 
he  stands  on  the  evolutionary  ladder.  And 
what  is  true  of  the  individual  is  also  true  of 
social  acts  and  social  systems.  As  the  ten- 
dency of  evolution  now  is  toward  unity,  it 
follows  that  that  which  makes  for  unity  is 
right.  Thus  the  standard  of  all  true  ethics 
is  to  unite  and  not  to  divide.  Right  and 
wrong,  then,  might  be  defined  as  a  general 
rule  thus :  Right  is  that  which  helps  another, 
wrong  is  that  which  injures  another — both  are 
relative  to  surrounding  circumstances. 

juring  others  and  ourselves,  and  conversely  to  aid 
us  in  doing  good  to  ourselves  and  others.  Just  in 
proportion  as  our  conduct  accords  with  this  fact 
we  are  moral.  Some  might  include  in  the  above  list 
the  Evolutionist;  but  evolution  is  not  a  school  of 
morality  and  it  has  no  bearing  on  the  special  phase 
of  the  question  we  are  considering.  The  modern 
Evolutionist  in  tracing  the  evolution  of  the  moral 
sense  has  rendered  much  service,  but  he  is  only  deal- 
ing with  the  conditions  that  aid  or  hinder  its  de- 
velopment— the  theory  does  not  touch  the  origin  of 
the  moral  sense  or  furnish  a  basis  for  ethics.  In 
evolution  we  merely  study  the  way  in  which  the 
germ  of  life  evolves.  This  life  which  comes  from 
God  contains  everything  in  potency.  The  moral 
sense  in  common  with  all  the  powers  of  man  has 
gradually  developed  through  the  process  of  evolu- 
tion— step  by  step,  these  inherent  qualities  and 
powers  have  been  brought  out.  Evolution  is  a  study 
of  the  method  of  Divine  procedure. 


18  MILITANT  AND 

Now  we  will  briefly  consider  the  bearing  of 
the  law  of  Economic  Determinism  on  ethics. 

The  economic  factor  in  morals 
Economic  plays  an  important  part  in  de- 
Factor  in  termitting  the  commonly  ac- 
Morals  cepted  moral  standards  of 

every  day  practice — frequently 
subordinating  or  perverting  the  higher  ethical 
ideals  to  subserve  personal  or  class  ends.  We 
have  seen  that  economic  conditions  create 
certain  social  needs  and  that  these  needs  in 
turn  create  certain  new  conditions.  But  these 
conditions  and  needs  also  create  certain  moral 
ideas.  The  demands  of  the  individual  in  so- 
ciety are  so  persistent  that  they  become  a 
habit  and  in  the  course  of  time  are  popularly 
recognized  as  moral  commands.  Purely  con- 
ventional customs  and  fashions  may  also  es- 
tablish certain  acts  as  moral,  but  the  chief 
factor  in  determining  conventional  morality  is 
the  social  needs.  When  rules  are  established 
as  moral  the  conscience  affirms  obligation  to 
obey. 

As    economic    development   advances,    new 
social  needs  are  created  which   demand  new 
moral     laws.      These     special 
New  Moral     laws  are  thus  chiefly  the  prod- 
Laws          uct  of  the  social  nature  of  men 
— the  precepts  arise  out  of  the 
social  needs.     We  may  not  always  be  able  to 
trace  the  social  forms  from  which  these  moral 
conceptions  arise,  for  the  social  causes  may 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 19 

reach  back  to  primitive  times.  Some  of  these 
tenets  through  habit  continue  to  exist  even 
after  the  cause  that  produced  them  has  dis- 
appeared. The  new  social  system  gives  rise 
to  certain  new  moral  precepts — every  form  of 
society  requires  certain  rules  suited  to  its 
needs — and  this  often  produces  much  confu- 
sion and  causes  the  moral  philosopher  trouble 
to  harmonize  the  conflicting  tenets.  Certain 
elements,  then,  in  the  accepted  moral  codes 
are  constantly  changing. 

These  relative  and  changing  standards  are 
not  apt  to  be  fully  in  accord  with  the  ideal 
ethics,  but  the  fact  that  it  is 
Ideal  Moral    possible  to  compare  and  judge 
Standards      a  concrete  code  of  morals  evi- 
dences that  there  must  be  such 
a   standard   of  comparison.     As   a   matter  of 
fact  ideal  standards  of  ethics  have  existed  in 
the  moral  philosophies  and  religions  of  ancient 
and  modern  times,  and  they  have  been  prac- 
tically identical   in   character.     This  of  itself 
should   evidence   that   there   is   something  in 
man  that  transcends  the  material.     Mr.  Hill- 
quit    says,    "The    Socialists    of    the    Marxian 
school     .     .    .    fully  recognize  that  the  moral 
sentiment  is  implanted   in   the  normal  being 
and  capable  of  very  high  development  even 
under  adverse  conditions.     Instances  of  men 
and  women  rising  above  their  class  interests 
and  sacrificing  their  material  welfare,   some- 


20  MILITANT  AND 

times  even  their  lives,  in  the  service  of  their 
fellow-men,  are  of  frequent,  almost  daily  oc- 
currence, and  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  any 
economic  or  materialistic  theory.  The  Social- 
ists also  recognize  that  outside  of  the  eco- 
nomic sphere  of  human  activity,  there  is  a 
large  field  of  human  interest,  in  which  the  in- 
dividuals of  all  classes  meet  on  common 
ground,  and  in  which  the  moral  conceptions 
correspond  to  the  actual  welfare  of  all  man- 
kind."5 But  this  does  not  negative  the  fact 
that  in  a  class  organized  and  class  ruled  so- 
ciety the  commonly  accepted  moral  conduct  is 
that  which  conserves  the  prevailing  order. 

If  we  fail  to  recognize  the  class  character  of 
much  of  our  ethics  we  shall  be  utterly  unable 
to   account   for   many   curious 
Illustrations    facts.     For  instance,  in  slavery 
Class  Ethics    days  the  system  was  regarded 
as  a  divine  institution  and  the 
disloyalty  of  the  slave  was  looked  upon  as  re- 
bellion against  God.    The  virtues  and  vices  of 
slaves  and  masters  were  opposite  in  each  class 
— cowardice  and   humility   were   regarded  as 
sterling  virtues  in  the  slave,  while  such  traits 
in  the  master  were  a  serious  fault.     We  find 
an  equally  diverging  standard  today  between 
the  capitalist  and  laborer — what  one  regards 
as  right  the  other  looks  upon  as  wrong.    The 
laborers  in  their  unions  resort  to  certain  meas- 


•Socialiim  in  Theory  and  Practice,  Hillquit,  p.  57. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 


ures  to  serve  their  ends  which  the  capitalists 
think  wrong,  and  vice  versa,  the  capitalists  em- 
ploy means  to  further  their  interests  which  the 
laborers  denounce  as  unjust.  Both  classes  may 
be  conscientious  —  they  are  viewing  things 
from  their  material  interests,  and  the  ethics 
they  recognize  is  the  ethics  of  their  class. 
Business  men  permit  things  in  business  which 
they  would  not  think  of  doing  in  private  life, 
or  if  they  did  society  would  not  hold  them 
guiltless.  The  wealthy  of  our  corporations 
can  slay  their  thousands  through  neglect  in 
introducing  proper  safety  appliances,  and  so- 
ciety does  not  hold  them  responsible,  but  let 
one  man  suffer  outside  of  business  from  such 
negligence  and  those  responsible  would  not 
escape  censure.  These  illustrations  might  be 
indefinitely  multiplied,  but  this  will  suffice  to 
show  the  class  character  of  such  morality. 
There  is  what  has  been  called  a  distinct  "class- 
conscience"  determined  by  class  interests. 

The  proletariat  morality  which  the  modern 

labor  movement  has  formed  is  as  yet  a  class 

morality.        However,      it      is 

Proletariat     higher  than  the  morality  of  the 

Morality       capitalist   class,   because   it   is 

the  ethics  of  the  class  whose  in- 

terests are  in  accord  with  progress  —  the  class 

destined  to  supplant  the  present  ruling  class. 

We  shall  see  later  that  the  proletarian  triumph 

will  lead  to  the  abolition  of  all  classes  and  the 


realization  of  the  ideal  morality — a  morality 
based  upon  mutual  service  and  social  co-op- 
eration. Socialism  will  realize  the  ultimate 
standard  of  morality. 

We  may  say,  then,  that  the  economic  struc- 
ture of  society  is  in  a  large  way  the  determin- 
ing factor  in  shaping  the  ac- 
General  Law  cepted  moral  standards  of 
Stated  practical  business  life.  The 
laws,  customs,  public  opinions 
and  moral  idas  are  largely  molded  by  the  eco- 
nomic conditions,  or  by  the  class  which  the 
economic  system  makes  the  ruling  class, 
whether  the  Patricians  of  ancient  Rome,  the 
Feudal  Lords  of  the  Middle  ages,  or  the  Cap- 
italists of  modern  times.  Whatever  the  ab- 
stract ideal  standard  may  be,  it  is  interpreted 
in  accord  with  the  interests  of  the  ruling  class. 
Thus  the  abstract  ideas  of  justice,  right,  hon- 
or, etc.,  have  ever  varied  in  generally  accepted 
meaning  with  the  changing  social  systems. 
In  every  age  the  economic  interests  have  per- 
verted the  great  universal  ethical  ideals  and 
set  up  a  class  ethics  instead.  The  law  of  Eco- 
nomic Determinism  is  important  in  its  bear- 
ing on  ethical  problems.  It  enables  us  to  ex- 
plain many  curious  anomalies  that  would 
otherwise  be  inexplicable. 


CHAPTER  III 
Technical  Economic  Basis  of  Slavery 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  main  proposition 
— that  each  great  historical  change  was  pre- 
ceded by  new  technical  condi- 
Main          tions,  a  change  in  the  economic 
Proposition     foundation,  and  that  this  made 
Again         possible  the  social  and  politi- 
cal   change    that    divided    the 
world's  history  into  epochs. 

Let  us  note  a  few  illustrations  of  the  work- 
ing of  this  law  as  seen  in  the  general  sweep 
of  human  history.6 

In  primitive  times  when  one  tribe  conquered 
another  it  had  no  use  for  its  captives  and  so 
killed   them — the   cannibalistic 
Origin   of      tribe  for  food,  the  non-cannibal- 
Slavery        istic  merely  to  get  them  out  of 
the  way.    But  in  the  course  of 
time   men   gained   power  over  the   forces  of 
nature  to  produce  more  than  their  keep,  and 
it  was  soon  discovered  that  it  was  more  profit- 
able to   keep   the   captives  alive   and   compel 
them   to   work,   than   to   put   them   to   death. 
Especially   was   this   true   in   those   advanced 
tribes  that  turned  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil 
for  subsistence.     It  was  the  economic  change 
that   led   to   the   more   humane   treatment   of 


6For  specific  instances  I  must  refer  the  reader  to 
the  well  known  works  of  Marx,  Engles,  Kautsky, 
Spargo,  Ghent,  Simons,  Hillquit,  Seligman,  Ferri, 
Bax  and  Loria. 


24 MILITANT  AND 

captives.  The  establishment  of  slavery  was 
a  decided  step  in  advance,  both  economically 
and  morally.7 

Slavery  now  became  common.  First,  it  was 
a  tribal  institution.  But  the  tribal  slavery  fin- 
ally gave  rise  to  the  private  ownership  of  man 
by  man, — a  result  of  the  tribal  method  of  dis- 
tribution, undoubtedly, — and  this  led  to  pri- 
vate exchange  of  the  product  and  at  last  to 
the  private  ownership  of  land  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  early  Communist  system. 

As  a  private  institution  slavery  continued 
until  the  economic  changes  made  it  unprofit- 
able to  own  human  beings  as 

Cause  of       chattels.     In  the  days  of  the 

Abolition  decadence  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, slavery  became  unprofit- 
able on  the  great  agricultural  estates  and  thou- 
sands of  slaves  were  liberated  and  others  made 
tenants  on  the  land.  Finally,  the  invasion  of 
the  barbarians  broke  up  the  Roman  civiliza- 
tion and  made  slavery  impossible. 

The  changed  conditions  resulting  from  the 

break-up  of  the  Roman  Empire  gave  rise  to 

Feudalism,  which  became  the 

European      essential  system  of  the  Middle 
Feudalism  and  Ages,  although  chattel  slavery 

Capitalism     survived    in    certain    quarters 
for  centuries.     There  also  ex- 
isted alongside  of  the  Feudal  estate  a  body  of 

TFor  further  discussion  of  this  question  see  the 
author's  little  book.  The  Socialist  Movement.  Sec.  6. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 25 

free  laborers — craftsmen  and  peasants.  The 
craftsmen  organized  into  guilds  and  carried 
on  production  under  strict  rules.  Again 
changes  occurred — the  discharge  of  the  feudal 
retainers,  the  forceful  expropriation  of  the 
people  from  the  soil,  the  destruction  of  the 
guilds,  etc. — which  made  possible  the  rise  of 
the  new  order.  The  individual  capitalist  who 
had  existed  in  embryo  in  the  guild  master  now 
came  into  power.  The  economic  changes 
made  possible  the  supremacy  of  a  new  ruling 
class. 

Our  American  States  furnish  the  best  field 
for  the   study   of  the  slave   system   and   the 
transition  to  capitalism.     This 
American      country  did  not  go  through  the 
Slavery  and    Feudal  stage  proper  but  passed 
Capitalism      directly  from  slavery  to  capi- 
talism.   We  have  a  way  of  do- 
ing things  in  a  hurry,  even  to  repeating  his- 
tory  rapidly.     In  the  United   States  we  see 
plainly  the  working  of  economic  forces  which 
would  have  freed  the  slaves  had  their  emanci- 
pation not  been  hastened  as  an  incident  of  the 
Civil    War.      The    economic    change    which 
would  have  led  to  this  result  was  already  ef- 
fected in  the  North.     The  rapid  increase  in 
the   population   and   the   development   of   the 
manufacturing  system,   rendered  slavery   un- 
profitable and  unnecessary.     The  transforma- 
tion of  industry  resulted  in  the  loss  of  control 


26 MILITANT  AND 

by  tht  workers  over  the  means  of  their  live- 
lihood. The  vast  cost  of  the  new  machinery 
gave  rise  to  a  capitalist  class — the  owners  of 
the  instruments  of  toil.  The  laborers  thus 
dispossessed  and  unable  to  employ  themselves 
were  obliged  to  sell  their  labor-power  to  the 
owning  class  or  starve.  This  gave  to  the  cap- 
italist class  an  abundance  of  cheap  wage  la- 
bor. The  ownership  of  the  tools  was  suffi- 
cient— it  carried  with  it  the  ownership  of  men. 
Wage  labor  was  thus  more  profitable  than 
slave  labor,  and  consequently  the  North  dis- 
posed of  its  slaves,  giving  Negro  children  away 
as  soon  as  weaned.  Owing  to  the  scarcity  of 
labor  in  the  South  and  its  backward  industrial 
development  slave  labor  continued  to  be  an 
important  factor.  But  it  would  have  undoubt- 
edly disappeared  ere  this  had  not  the  war  sum- 
marily abolished  it.  Mr.  Spargo,  in  his  ad- 
mirable little  book,  Capitalist  and  Laborer, 
cites  the  fact  that  "Many  Southern  slave- 
owners had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  slav- 
ery was  unprofitable  long  before  the  Civil 
War  began.  Before  the  war  was  finished  the 
question  of  slavery  had  become  relatively  un- 
important, so  much  so,  indeed,  that  the  Con- 
federate cabinet  itself  proposed  to  abolish 
slavery  in  order  to  win  European  friendship.''8 
We  do  not  deny  the  great  work  of  Garrison, 

8Reference  given  to  Rhodes,  History  of  the  U.  S., 
V.  66-67. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 27 

Phillips,  Brown,  Lovejoy,  and  others,  but  this 
alone  would  never  have 

The  Moral  wrought  the  abolition  of  the 
Ideal  system  had  not  the  change  in 

Recognized  the  method  of  production  laid 
the  foundation  for  the  new 
order.  Even  the  moral  conviction  that  slav- 
ery was  wrong  did  not  become  general  in  the 
North  until  the  changed  conditions  had  made 
it  unprofitable  to  own  human  beings  as  chat- 
tels. But  the  moral  ideal  when  perceived  did 
much  to  arouse  public  sentiment  and  hasten 
the  struggle  between  the  North  and  the  South, 
— one  representing  the  interests  of  the  capi- 
talist class,  the  other  the  interest  of  the  slave- 
owners. In  this  struggle  the  class  more  in 
accord  with  soqial  progress  naturally  sur- 
vived. Slavery  gave  way  to  capitalism. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Social  Evolution  to  Reach  Its  Climax  In 
Collective  Ownership 

Today  capitalism  rules  supreme.    But  the  so- 
cial evolution  is  not  completed.     The  condi- 
tions have  materially  changed 
Development   since  the  supremacy  of  the  cap- 
of  Capitalism  italist  class.    In  the  beginning 
of  the  capitalist  era  there  was 
individual  ownership  of  the  tools  of  produc- 
tion, next  came  the  joint-stock  or  corporation 
stage,  and  this  was  followed  by  the  trust  stage. 
In  the  strict  sense  a  trust  is  effected  by  the 
stockholders   of  different   corporations   trans- 
ferring their  stock  to  trustees. 
The  Trust     This  was  the  way  the  Standard 
Oil  trust  was  formed  in  1882. 
But  the  term  has  now  come  to  be  used  in  a 
wider  sense  to  denote  every  act,  agreement  or 
combination  made  for  the  purpose  of  restrict- 
ing competition  and  controlling  trade  by  fax- 
ing prices,  etc.     Some  trades  begin  with  the 
mere  agreement  as  to  prices  and  then  pass  on 
into  some  form  of  association,  and  finally  into 
a  full  consolidation  of  interests  and  manage- 
ment. 

In  one  form  or  another  the  trust  is  found 
today  in  every  civilized  country.     The  move- 
ment has  gone  further  in  the 
Growth        United  States  than  elsewhere, 
but  England,  Germany,  France, 
Belgium,  Austria,  etc.,  are  rapidly  following 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 29 

our  lead.  There  is  not  a  capitalist  country 
where  competition  in  the  old  sense  is  not  rap- 
idly disappearing  if  not  practically  already  ex- 
tinct in  all  the  great  industries.  In  spite  of 
State  and  Federal  legislation  the  trust  move- 
ment in  this  country  has  gone  on  at  a  very 
rapid  rate.  Mr.  John  Moody,  the  author  of 
publications  consulted  daily  in  Wall  Street 
as  a  guide  to  securities,  gives  the  statistics  of 
the  growth  of  trusts  in  this  country  from  1904 
tc  1908.  He  shows  that  in  1904  the  consolida- 
tions of  industrial,  franchise  and  steam  rail- 
road corporations  aggregated  in  round  num- 
bers, $20,000,000,000.  In  1908  the  same  lines 
aggregated  over  $31,000,000,000— an  increase 
of  over  $11,000,000,000,  or  55  per  cent. 

Mr.  Moody  gives  the  trust  consolidation  and 
capitalization  January  1,  1908,  in  detail  as  fol- 
lows :  Seven  greater  industrial  trusts, — Amal- 
gamated Copper  Co.,  American  Smelting  and 
Refining  Co.,  American  Sugar  Refining  Co., 
American  Tobacco  Co.,  International  Mer- 
chant Marine  Co.,  Standard  Oil  Co.,  U.  S.  Steel 
Corporat;on, — controlling  1,638  plants,  capital- 
ized at  $2,708,438,754;  451  lesser  industrial 
trusts,  controlling  5,038  plants,  capitalized  at 
$8,243,175,000,— total  of  458  industrial  trusts, 
controlling  6,676  plants,  capitalized  at  $10,951,- 
613,754^  franchise  trusts,  controlling  2,559 
plants,  capitalized  at  $7,789,393,000;  great 
steam  railroad  groups,  controlling  745  plants, 


30 TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 

capitalized  at  $12,931,154,000;  grand  total  of 
all  trusts, — industrial,  franchise,  transportation, 
etc., — controlling  10,020  plants,  capitalized  at 
$31,672,160,754.  Of  the  industrial  trusts  15 
have  a  capitalization  $100,000,000  or  over,  33 
have  $50,000,000  or  over,  165  have  $10,000,000 
or  over,  and  451  have  $5,000,000,000  or  over.  Of 
the  franchise  trusts  16  exceed  $100,000,000. 
41  exceed  $50,000,000  and  156  exceed  $5,000,- 
000.  Of  the  6  greatest  railroad  groups,  all 
exceed  $1,000,000,000  capital. 

All  efforts  upon  the  part  of  the  government 
to  prevent  this  concentration  have  proved  fu- 
tile.  The  Interstate  Commerce 
Government    Act    and    the    Sherman    Anti- 
Restriction     Trust  Law  have  proved  dismal 
Futile         failures    so    far    as    restricting 
combinations  are   concerned — 
in  fact,  nearly  all  the  great  trusts  have  been 
formed    since   the   enactment   of   these    laws. 
Almost  every  state  has  passed  laws  against  the 
trusts  but  ways  have  been  found  to  evade  the 
law.     When  the  Standard  Oil  trust  was  de- 
clared illegal  in  Ohio,  it  merely  changed  its 
name  and  kept  right  on  doing  business  at  the 
old  stand.    It  ought  to  be  self-evident  by  this 
time  that  great  industrial  interests  cannot  be 
compelled  to  compete  by  law. 

Some   have   supposed  that  these   combina- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 31 

tions  are  due  to  special  privileges,  such  as  the 
tariff  or  the  shipping  discrim- 
Combinations  inations   of  railroads,   but   the 
Natural        low  tariff  of  England  and  the 
governmental      ownership     of 
Germany   have    not    prevented    industrial   or- 
ganization in  those  countries.     The  supposed 
special    privileges    have    been    greatly    exag- 
gerated.    To  be  sure  such  favors  have  often 
facilitated  the  organization  of  industry  but  such 
is  not  the  cause.     Business  interests  combine 
because  it  is  more  profitable  to  combine  than 
to  compete.     Competition   goes  on   until  the 
small  businesses  are  driven  from  the  field,  and 
then  the  larger  ones  either  fight  to  a  finish, 
thus  leaving  the  strongest  one  in  control,  or 
else   realizing  the  disastrous  results  of  com- 
petition— for  competition   among  great   busi- 
nesses   is   a   costly   affair — they   combine   for 
self-protection  and  greater  profits.     Competi- 
tion always  ends  in  combination.     Trusts  are 
natural  and  inevitable.     The  development  of 
.the  trust  marks  the  beginning  of  the  end  of 
the  capitalist  system. 

This    change    of    economic    conditions,    in 
the     method    of    producing    and    distributing 
wealth,    again    necessitates    a 
Socialism      new  order  of  society.  The  trusts 
Demanded  by  have  systematized  and  unified 
Changed       industry  and  prepared  the  way 
Conditions     for  the  final  stage  of  social  evo- 
lution.    The  trust  era  of  pro- 
duction not  only  makes  possible  the  socializa- 


£ MILITANT  AND 

tion  of  industry,  but  necessitates  it  as  a  pre- 
requisite to  further  social  progress.  Just  as 
the  ownership  of  men  became  an  obstacle  to 
progress,  so  the  ownership  of  the  social  tools 
has  become  a  hindrance. 

The  interests  of  society  and  the  interests  of 
the  capitalist  owners  are  now  antagonistic. 
Society  wants  a  large  product  but  the  capital- 
ists want  high  values,  and  values  are  opposed 
to  abundance.  The  purpose  of  every  com- 
bination is  to  regulate  production  and  limit 
the  supply  to  the  commercial  demand.  So- 
ciety can  never  fully  satisfy  its  wants  except 
by  owning  .the  instruments  of  production  and 
carrying  on  industry  for  the  purpose  of  satis- 
fying human  needs. 

The  economic  changes  that  precede  and  re- 
quire a  new  order  have  already  been  effected. 
The  tools  of  modern  production  are  social. 
The  private  ownership  of  these  great  social 
tools  is  incompatible  with  the  character  of 
the  tools  and  their  methods  of  social  use.  This 
condition  is  due  to  an  anachronism — a  sur- 
vival of  the  method  of  ownership  and  wealth 
distribution  that  belongs  to  the  individual 
stage  of  production.  It  is  evident  that  the  so- 
cial character  and  use  of  the  tools  of  industry 
require  their  social  ownership  and  control. 
The  abolition  of  private  ownership  is  thus  de- 
manded by  the  changed  methods  of  produc- 
tion. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 33 

We  have  seen  how  a  change  in  the  method 
of  wealth  production  resulted  in  a  change  in 
the  social  system — the  laws,  institutions,  and 
even  moral  conceptions  being  transformed  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  new  economic  condition. 
We  are  now  facing  a  new  social  transforma- 
tion. An  economic  change  from  individual  to 
social  mechanical  production  has  been  effected. 
This  social  production,  and  especially  its  de- 
veloped trust  form,  demands  a  transformation 
in  the  political  and  social  system  to  meet  the 
needs  of  this  new  method  of  industry.  This 
transformation  in  the  social,  political  and  ju- 
dicial superstructure  will  realize  Socialism. 

Socialism  is  the  next  stage  of  social  and 
economic  evolution.  As  individuals  have  com- 
bined into  corporations  and  corporations  into 
trusts,  so  trusts  will  combine  into  the  great 
trust — the  Nation.  This  is  logical  and  inevi- 
table. It  is  only  in  universal  combination  that 
a  complete  consummation  of  social  evolution 
can  be  attained. 

The  time  is  now  ripe  for  the  change.     We 
do  not  need  to  wait  for  competition  to  crush 
out  all  small  industries  before 
Time  Ripe     the  change  is  made.     The  de- 
for  Change     velopment  in  any  industry  of 
sufficient   large   production    to 
enable  the  concentration  of  production  in  these 
more  efficient  plants  would  enable  the  Social- 
ist State  to  eliminate  the  remaining  small  in- 


34 MILITANT  AND 

dustries  at  once.  The  ripeness  of  any  indus- 
try for  socialization,  as  pointed  out  by  Karl 
Kautsky,  does  not  depend  so  much  on  the 
elimination  of  small  industries  as  on  the  or- 
ganization of  large  ones.9  Small  industries 
may  remain  or  even  increase,  but  if  large  ones 
exist  there  is  the  requisite  condition  for  social 
ownership.  We  need  not  wait,  then,  for  the 
complete  trustification  of  all  industries,  al- 
though we  gladly  welcome  such  organization 
as  it  is  doing  the  work  for  us.  Not  only  is 
capital  organizing  industry,  it  is  also  organ- 
izing and  disciplining  the  workers  and  thus 
laying  the  "psychological  foundation"  for  the 
new  order  of  society.  Let  the  good  work  go 
on — we  bid  it  Godspeed.10 

Space  will  not  permit  further  consideration 

of  this  law  of  Social  Evolution.    Suffice  to  say 

that  scarcely  a  move  is  made 

Knowledge  socially  or  politically,  either  na- 
of  Law  tionally  or  internationally,  but 

Important  can  be  traced  to  economic  con- 
siderations. It  is  beginning  to 
be  realized  by  others  besides  Socialists  that 
economic  conditions  form  the  real  basis  of 


>See  The  Social  Revolution,  Kautsky,  p.  144. 

10The  religious  believer  sees  in  this  the  working 
out  of  a  Divine  plan.  As  biological  evolution  cul- 
minates in  man,  so  social  evolution  is  destined,  by 
economic  necessity, — the  Divine  method  of  social 
progress, — to  culminate  in  Socialism. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 35 

society  and  explain,  in  the  last  analysis,  the 
social  superstructure.  These  conditions  are 
the  soil  out  of  which  grow  so  largely  the  life 
and  character  of  mankind.  The  manner,  then, 
in  which  wealth  production  and  distribution 
is  carried  on,  or  rather  the  ruling  class  which 
the  economic  system  forces  to  the  front,  de- 
termines the  kind  of  laws,  customs  and  social 
arrangements  at  any  given  time.  It  is  not 
claimed  that  this  is  the  only  factor  in  the  equa- 
tion, but  that  it  is  the  chief  factor  is  evident. 
Other  forces  play  their  part,  but  the  principle 
force  is  economic.  The  change  in  the  eco- 
nomic base  necessitates  a  readjustment  in  the 
social  and  political  realm  to  correspond.  In 
other  words  a  new  method  of  gaining  a  liveli- 
hood creates  a  new  civilization.  A  knowledge 
of  this  law  is  necessary  to  a  clear  understand- 
ing of  the  course  of  human  history. 


CHAPTER  V 
The  Socialist  Theory  of  Surplus  Value 

The  Socialist  theory  of  surplus  value  deals 

with  capitalist  production  and  exploitation.   In 

order  to  understand  this  proc- 

Capitalist  ess  we  need  to  understand  the 
System  capitalist  system  of  industry. 
The  capitalist  exchanges  his 
money  capital  for  labor-power  and  the  means 
of  production,  which  commodities  now  become 
productive  capital,  and  in  the  productive 
process  are  transformed  into  commodity  prod- 
ucts— products  of  greater  value  than  that  of 
the  constituted  elements  composing  it — and 
this  commodity  capital  is  retransformed  into 
money. 

The  first  and  third  stages  of  this  process — 
the  transformation  of  money  into  commodities 
or  purchase,  and  the  reverse  process,  the  trans- 
formation of  commodities  into  money  or  sale 
(however  sale  is  also  implied  in  the  first  stage 
upon  the  part  of  the  holder  of  the  commodity 
and  purchase  in  the  third  stage  upon  the  part 
of  the  buyer) — are  called  circulation.1  This 
process  creates  no  value  or  surplus  value — 
these  are  produced  in  the  second  stage,  called 
the  productive. 

The  process  of  circulation  is  interrupted  at 

1We  follow  Marx'  terminology  here  but  the  word 
"transformation"  would  seem  to  us  much  better. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 37_ 

the  end  of  the  first  phase  of  the  rotation  of 
capital  by  the  productive  process,  which  makes 
the  commodities,  labor-power  and  the  means 
of  production,  parts  of  the  substances  and 
values  of  productive  capital  and  consumes 
them.  The  result  of  this  process  is  a  new  com- 
modity which  is  of  different  composition  and 
value  than  the  commodities  entering  into  the 
process.  The  interrupted  process  of  circula- 
tion must  be  completed  by  the  exchange  of 
money  for  the  new  product.  The  basis  of  this 
second  and  concluding  phase  is  a  commodity 
of  different  composition  and  value  than  the 
first.  The  process  of  circulation,  therefore,  ap- 
pears first  as  the  exchange  of  money  for  com- 
modities, then  as  the  exchange  of  commodities 
for  money — the  commodities  in  the  second  in- 
stance representing  a  greater  value  due  to  the 
intervening  productive  process.  The  change 
of  value  is  due  exclusively  to  the  process  of 
production  which  thus  appears  as  a  natural 
metamorphosis  of  capital,  as  compared  to  the 
merely  formal  metamorphosis  of  circulation. 
Capital,  then,  appears  as  a  value  which  goes 
through  a  series  of  connected  changes  condi- 
tioned on  one  another  and  representing  so 
many  phases  of  the  total  process.  Two  of 
these  phases  belong  to  circulation  and  one  to 
productive  consumption — the  transformation 
of  the  purchased  commodities,  labor-power  and 


38 MILITANT  AND 

the  means  of  production.2  Marx  says,  "The 
process  of  production,  therefore,  appears  to  us 
as  an  interruption  of  the  process  of  circulation 
of  capital-value."3 

Industrial  capital,  then,  passes  through  the 
forms  of  money  capital,  productive  capital,  and 
commodity  capital  and  performs  in  each  stage 
its  own  particular  function.  Some  portion  of 
the  industrial  capital — the  individual  capital 
— is  in  each  form  simultaneously  and  rotates 
side  by  side,  when  one  portion  leaves  one  stage 
another  portion  enters  so  that  the  entire  cir- 
culation is  a  unit  with  the  three  forms. 

Marx  sums  this  up  as  follows :    "One  part 
of  capital,  continually  changing,  continually  re- 
produced, exists  as  a  commod- 
Marx          ity    capital,  which  is  convert- 
Summary      ed    into    money;    another    as 
money   capital   converted   into 
productive  capital;  and  a  third  as  productive 
capital  converted  into  commodity  capital.  The 
continuous    existence    of    all    these    forms    is 
brought  about  by  the  rotation  of  the  aggre- 
gate cycle  through  these  three  phases.    Capital, 
as  a  whole,  then,  exists  simultaneously  side  by 
side  in  its  different  phases.     But  every  part 
passes  continuously  and  successively  from  one 
phase  and  functional  form  into  the  next  one 
and  performs  a  function  in  all  of  them."    The 

2Capital,  Marx,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  58,  59. 
•Ibid,  p.  51. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 39 

process  of  production  thus  mediates  the  process 
of  circulation  and  vice  versa. 

We  are  now  ready  to  trace  the  origin  of  sur- 
plus value.  We  have  stated  that  surplus  value 
is  not  created  in  the  process  of  circulation — 
the  transformation  of  money  into  commodities 
and  vice  versa.  Surplus  value  is  created  only 
in  the  field  of  production.  We  will  consider 
first  the  process  of  manufacture. 

The  three  factors  that  enter  into  the  manu- 
facturing process  are  the  machinery,  the  raw 
and  auxiliary  materials,  and 
Manufacture  the  labor-power.  The  capital- 
ist buys  these  factors  in  the 
open  market,  or  rather  authorizes  their  pur- 
chase by  an  agent  into  whose  hands  he  places 
his  capital,  for  the  purpose  of  utilizing  these 
factors  in  the  creation  of  profits.  This  act 
constitutes  the  first  phase  of  circulation.  The 
factors  now  enter  the  labor  process,  but  the 
values  of  these  factors  are  no  greater  after  they 
are  joined  together  than  they  were  before. 
Out  of  the  mere  addition  of  existing  values  no 
new  value  can  arise.  The  capitalist  can  realize 
no  surplus  value  if  he  pays  in  full  for  the  fac- 
tors of  the  labor  process.  It  is  evident  that  he 
must  pay  in  full  for  the  raw  materials  and  the 
instruments  of  labor — these  can  only  transfer 
to  the  finished  product  such  value  as  they  pos- 
sess. These  factors  change  their  shape  during 
the  process  of  manufacture,  but  their  value 


40  MILITANT  AND 

does   not  change — it  disappears   in   one   form 
only  to  reappear  in  another,  but  with  no  in- 
crease.    That   which   the   capitalist   pays   for 
these  factors  is  simply  transferred  to  the  new 
product.     It  is  evident,  then,  tUat  the  labor- 
power  must  be  the  source  of  surplus  value. 
This  is  the  fact.    The  laborer  being  unable  to 
employ  himself  must  sell  his  labor-power  for 
less  than  its  real  or  use  value.  We  have  already 
pointed  out  that  the  transformation  of  the  for- 
mer  limited    instruments   of   production    into 
mighty  powers,  costing  vast  sums  of  money, 
and  the  social  character  of  the  new  methods 
of  industry,     reduced   the    once    independent 
handicraftsmen  to  the  level  of  wage  workers. 
In  this  condition  they  must  compete  with  one 
another  for  an  opportunity  to  live.  Their  labor- 
power  is  a  commodity  which  the  capitalist  is 
able  to  buy  at  its  exchange  value,  which  is  de- 
termined like  other  commodities  by  its  cost 
of   production — the    cost    of    maintaining   the 
worker  and  his  family  in   normal   efficiency. 
This  wage  has  practically  nothing  to  do  with 
the  productivity  of  his  labor — the  amount  of 
value  which  his  labor-power  adds  to  the  prod- 
uct.   Here,  then,  is  the  secret  of  capitalist  ex- 
ploitation.   He  buys  labor-power  for  less  than 
its  real  value  and  appropriates  the  difference 
between  the  price  of  the  labor-power  and  that 
which  the  laborer  produces.     Labor-power  is 
the   factor  which   adds  to  the   product  more 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 41_ 

value  than  its  cost — it  creates  the  new  value, 
and  it  is  this  new  value  that  constitutes  the 
capitalists'  profits.  This  unpaid  labor,  the 
difference  between  the  cost  or  exchange  value 
of  labor-power  and  its  value  in  use, — the  value 
that  the  labor  creates, — is  called  surplus-value. 
This  is  the  source  of  the  capitalist  income  and 
it  is  for  this  increment  that  he  invests  his  cap- 
ital. 

To  illustrate  the  process  suppose  the  prod- 
uct of  a  factory  employing  a  certain  number 
of  men  for  a  certain  period  of 

Illustration  time  amounts  to  $100,000.  If 
the  employer  pays  $60,000  for 
the  raw  and  auxiliary  materials,  $15,000  for 
labor-power  (including  wages  of  superinten- 
dence), and  $10,000  for  the  wear  and  tear  of 
machinery  and  plant  and  miscellaneous  ex- 
penses,— $85,000  in  all, — he  would  thus  make 
a  clear  profit  of  $15,000.  Where  did  this  profit 
come  from?  He  cannot  make  anything  on  the 
raw  materials  or  the  machinery.  The  value 
of  these  factors  consumed  merely  passes  over 
and  is  embodied  in  the  new  product.  But  if 
we  look  at  the  labor-power  we  shall  find  that 
the  laborers  produced  the  value  of  their  wages 
in  half  the  time  in  which  they  worked.  The 
other  half  they  produced  an  equal  value  but 
received  nothing  in  return.  This  surplus 
labor — the  amount  over  what  was  necessary 
to  produce  the  wages  received — goes  gratuit- 


42 MILITANT  AND 

ously  to  the  capitalist.  The  appropriation,  how- 
ever, is  made  each  day,  the  day  being  divided 
into  two  parts — the  necessary  and  surplus  labor 
time.  The  necessary  labor  is  that  which  is 
requisite  to  create  the  wages ;  the  surplus  labor 
is  the  unpaid  labor  embodied  in  the  product. 
The  percentage,  of  course,  is  not  fixed ;  it  varies 
a  little  at  different  times,  and  the  amount  of 
this  surplus  value  which  the  capitalist  receives 
as  profits  also  varies. 

The  capitalist  figures  are  not  always  reli- 
able and  the  statistics  are  so  compiled  that  it 

is  sometimes  difficult  to  find 
Statistics  out  the  exact  facts.  In  1900 

the  average  annual  wage  of  all 
workers  (men,  women  and  children)  is  given 
as  $437,  and  the  average  net  product  per 
worker  (not  including  those  listed  as  salaried 
officials  and  clerks,  and  after  deducting  cost 
of  materials  used,  miscellaneous  expenses,  etc.) 
is  given  as  $872.  The  salaries  of  those  listed  as 
salaried  officials,  clerks,  etc.,  averaged  $1,017, 
each — the  officials  probably  getting  the  lion's 
share.  The  average  wage  of  the  adult  man  was 
$490,  but  we  do  not  know  the  value  of  his 
individual  product  separate  from  the  other 
workers.  If  the  salaried  officials  are  included, 
the  average  sum  received  by  each  adult  wage 
worker  and  official  would  be  $536,  and  the  net 
product  would  be  aproximately  $1,027.  Thus 
allowing  the  salaries  of  the  officials,  many  of 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 43 

whom  receive  large  sums  and  render  no  serv- 
ice, the  laborers  are  seen  to  be  exploited  out 
of  a  goodly  portion  of  the  wealth  they  create — 
they  are  compelled  to  work  at  least  four  hours, 
and  more  likely  nearer  five  hours,  every  day 
gratuitously  for  others. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Exchange  as  a  Productive  Process 
What  is  true  of  manufacture  is  equally  true 
of  exchange.  Exchange  is  a  part  of  the  pro- 
ductive process — those  engaged 
Exchange  in  transporting  goods,  etc.,  be- 
ing producers  as  much  as  those 
engaged  in  the  primary,  extractive,  and  forma- 
tive industries.  The  purpose  of  production  is 
to  supply  human  wants  and  the  process  is  not 
complete  until  goods  are  brought  to  the  con- 
sumers. The  process  here  begins  with  the  first 
phase  of  'Circulation,  the  transformation  of 
money  into  commodities, — the  commodity  capi- 
tal of  the  manufacturer  becomes  the  product- 
ive capital  in  exchange, — and  together  with  the 
other  elements  of  production  (the  means  of 
transportation,  labor-power,  etc.)  passes 
through  the  productive  process  of  change  in 
time  and  place,  and  with  the  augmented  value 
thus  acquired  passes  again  through  the  process 
of  circulation.  Exchange  assumes  the  means 
of  the  process  as  existing — store  houses, 
transportation  facilities,  retail  stores,  etc.,  in 
fact,  all  the  means  necessary  to  get  goods  from 
the  manufacturer  to  the  consumer.  Circula- 
tion in  the  field  of  exchange,  as  in  manufac- 
ture, is  merely  incidental — it  introduces  and 
closes  the  productive  process.  It  consists 
simply  in  the  transformation  of  money  into 
commodities  and  vice  versa.  Strictly  speak- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 45 

ing,  the  process  of  circulation  is  not  a  func- 
tion of  a  special  class — excluding  the  specu- 
lator— but  an  incidental  function  of  the  indus- 
trial class  as  a  whole.  The  conversion  of 
money  into  commodities  and  vice  versa  is  a 
necessary  function  in  the  process  of  the  re- 
production of  capital,  but  the  function  does 
not  create  value  or  surplus  value.  If  these 
operations  were  not  performed  the  capitalist 
could  not  use  his  capital  in  the  process  of 
production,  and  consequently  could  not  reap 
the  profit  of  such  industry. 

Industrial  production,  then,  is  divided  into 
two  cycles — manufacture  and  exchange.  The 

final  stage  in  the  first  cycle  is 

Two  the   first   stage   in  the  second 

Cycles         cycle.       In     both     cycles    the 

process  of  production  inter- 
venes midway  between  the  two  opposite 
phases  of  the  circulation  of  capital.  Each 
cycle  begins  with  money-capital.  This  fact 
is  not  altered  by  the  manufacturer  carrying 
on  the  process  of  exchange  himself,  for  he 
must  receive  the  money  value  for  his  product 
to  begin  with  in  order  to  continue  the  process 
of  manufacture  uninterrupted.  This  would 
necessitate  an  additional  capital,  for,  while  his 
commodity  capital  goes  to  the  market  another 
capital  is  needed  to  continue  the  process  of 
production — capital  would  have  to  be  ad- 
vanced in  order  to  begin  anew  the  first  cycle. 


46 MILITANT  AND 

He  would  also  need  a  still  further  sum  to  se- 
cure the  means  necessary  to  carry  on  the 
second  cycle.  It  is  generally  advantageous 
for  the  manufacturer  to  confine  his  activity  to 
the  first  cycle  and  turn  over  the  second  to  an- 
other class.  The  result  of  this  division  of 
labor  is  to  facilitate  both  processes — the  man- 
ufacturer converts  his  commodities  more 
quickly  into  money,  and  the  exchanger  se- 
cures the  final  sale  of  the  commodities  more 
quickly.  However,  if  the  manufacturing  cap- 
italist performs  this  function  he  obtains  ad- 
ditional profit  which  otherwise  would  go  to 
others. 

It  is  thought  by  some  that  the  second 
cycle  is  merely  the  circulation  of  commodity 
capital, — the  augmented  capital  value  of  the 
first  cycle  in  the  form  of  commodities, — in 
which  there  is  no  increase  of  value  or  surplus 
value.  But  we  hold  that  the  money  capital 
in  the  second  cycle,  as  in  the  first,  is  trans- 
formed into  productive  capital.  Transporta- 
tion is  a  productive  process.  Marx  truly  says, 
"Transportation,  as  an  industry,  sells  this 
change  of  location.  This  utility  is  inseparably 
connected  with  the  process  of  transportation, 
which  is  the  productive  process  of  transporta- 
tion. Men  and  commodities  travel  by  the  help 
of  the  means  of  transportation,  and  this  travel- 
ing, this  change  of  location,  constitutes  the 
production  in  which  these  means  of  transpor- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 47 

tation  are  consumed.  The  exchange  value  of 
this  utility  is  determined,  like  that  of  any  other 
commodity,  by  the  value  of  the  elements  of 
production  (labor-power  and  means  of  pro- 
duction) plus  the  surplus  value  created  by  the 
surplus  labor  of  the  laborers  employed  in 
transportation."4  Marx  then  gives  the  formula 
for  the  transportation  industry  which  is  the 
same  as  for  manufacture.  It  is  the  process  of 
production  itself  here  which  is  paid  for  and 
consumed,  not  a  product  separate  from  it. 

The  field  of  exchange,  then,  is  not  merely 
buying  and  selling  in  which  the  merchant  buys 
of  the  manufacturer  and  sells  direct  to  the  final 
consumer  without  any  intervening  function. 
Before  the  manufacturer's  product  can  reach 
the  final  consumer  it  must  pass  through  the 
productive  process  of  exchange. 

We  use  the  word  merchant  here  to  cover  the 
entire  process  of  exchange,  although,  strictly 
speaking,  the  term  is  limited  to 
The  the  first  and  last  stages  of  the 

Merchant  process — the  wholesale  and  re- 
tail dealers.  But  the  cost  of 
exchange  (expressage,  transportation,  etc.), 
the  expense  of  all  the  objective  materials  of 
commerce — must  be  advanced  by  the  merchant, 
and,  although  the  function  appears  as  a  special 
business,  still  the  merchant  recovers  the  con- 


<Capital,  Vol.  II.,  p.  62. 


48 MILITANT  AND 

stant  and  variable  capital  invested  in  this  field 
and  for  all  practical  purposes  we  can  let  the 
merchant  stand  for  the  entire  process  of  ex- 
change. The  profit  here  appears  as  merchant's 
profit,  however  the  division  of  labor  may  neces- 
sitate its  ultimate  distribution.8 

Goods  sell,  under  normal  conditions,  at  their 


5It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that  we  hold  that 
merchants'  capital  is  productive.  The  trade  profits 
of  the  merchant  are  not  due  merely  to  the  manufac- 
turing capitalist  selling  his  product  below  its  value, 
and  so  surrendering  to  the  merchant  a  portion  of 
the  profit,  but  to  the  exploitation  of  labor  in  the 
field  of  exchange.  The  constant  capital  here — that 
invested  ;n  the  commodities,  store  rooms,  transpor- 
tation fi-.Jities,  retail  stores,  etc. — creates  no  value. 
The  value  consumed  in  the  process  of  exchange  is 
added  to  the  value  of  the  commodities  but  with  no 
increase.  It  is  the  variable  capital,  labor-power, 
that  adds  new  value  to  the  product — the  labor-power 
expended  in  these  social  functions.  The  capitalist  in 
this  field,  like  the  manufacturing  capitalist,  buys  la- 
bor-power at  its  exchange  value  and  makes  the  dif- 
ference between  what  he  pays  for  it  and  what  he  gets 
out  of  it.  And  this  field  includes  the  function  of 
the  merchant  proper  who  brings  goods  within  easy 
access  and  keeps  them  in  stock  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  community.  No  man  creates  new  mat- 
ter. All  production  is  simply  the  putting  of  things 
in  their  proper  places.  Man  moves  things  and  when 
they  are  moved  in  a  proper  manner  he  creates  value. 
The  manufacturer  changes  forms  and  combinations 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 49 

price  of  production.     This  price  is  determined 

by  the.  cost  plus  the  average 

Prices  profit.     The   various    rates   of 

Values         profit  in  different  industries  are 

equalized  by  competition  into 

a  general  rate  of  profit  and  it  is  this  average 

of  raw  material  by  putting  them  into  fit  places;  the 
merchant  similarly  takes  things  from  where  they 
are  useful  and  places  them  where  they  are  more 
useful.  The  manufacturer  produces  form  and  shape 
value,  that  due  to  the  form  and  shape  given  to 
materials;  the  merchant  produces  time  and  place 
value,  that  due  to  bringing  goods  to  the  place  where 
needed  and  saving  them  until  the  time  when  needed. 
To  be  sure  there  has  been  much  waste  of  economic 
force  in  the  field  of  exchange  and  the  merchant  has 
often  reaped  an  unjust  return  for  the  service  ren- 
dered, but  this  is  no  warrant  for  assuming  that 
the  function  itself  is  non-productive.  The  function 
of  the  merchant  is  not  mere  buying  and  selling,  this 
is  only  requisite  to  enable  him  to  secure  and  place 
goods  where  they  are  needed  to  supply  a  commercial 
demand.  It  is  not  contended  that  the  mere  transfer 
of  ownership,  the  exchange  of  goods  for  goods  or 
goods  for  money  without  change  in  form  or  place, 
of  itself  creates  value.  This  is  true  both  in  the  field 
of  manufacture  and  exchange.  The  buying  and  sell- 
ing of  the  means  of  production  or  of  the  manufac- 
turer's finished  product  (the  means  of  production  is 
often  the  commodity-product  of  some  other  manu- 
facturer), creates  no  value.  Value  is  produced  by 
labor  and  we  include  in  the  productive  process  not 
only  the  extractive  and  formative  industries,  but  all 
the  functions  necessary  to  transform  materials  into 
finished  products  and  to  bring  them  to  the  hands  of 
consumers — the  act  of  placing  and  keeping  goods  in 
stock  being  a  necessary  part  of  the  process. 


profit  added  to  the  capitalist  cost  of  production 
which  determines  the  pnce.  Prices,  then,  may 
vary  from  values,  in  fact,  such  is  usually  the 
case,  owing  to  the  different  compositions  of 
the  capitals  in  the  different  spheres  of  pro- 
duction. In  instances  where  the  percentage  of 
constant  capital  (machinery,  materials,  etc-) 
is  larger  and  the  percentage  of  variable  capital 
(labor-power)  smaller  than  the  average  social 
capital,  prices  will  be  greater  than  their  values, 
and  vice  versa,  instances  where  the  percentage 
of  constant  capital  is  smaller  and  the  percent- 
age of  variable  larger  than  the  average  social 
capital,  the  prices  will  be  less  than  the  values. 
Only  where  the  composition  of  the  special  cap- 
ital is  the  same  as  the  average  social  capital, 
will  price  and  value  be  equal.  However,  the 
aggregate  prices  of  the  production  of  all  com- 
modities equals  their  aggregate  values — the 
various  deviations  in  prices  from  values 
mutually  compensate  one  another.  The  law 
of  value,  then,  remains  in  force,  in  fact,  it  is 
only  by  means  of  this  law  that  variations  can 
be  explained.  If  commodities  sell  at  their 
values  the  profits  will  equal  the  surplus  value 
embodied  in  them,  but  if  they  sell  above  or 
below  their  value  then  the  profit  in  that  in- 
stance will  be  more  or  less  than  the  surplus 
value,  as  the  case  may  be.  But,  as  just  pointed 
out,  these  differences  tend  to  equalization. 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Class  Struggle  Inevitable 

The  interests  of  the  laboring  and  capitalist 

classes  are  antagonistic.    But  the  apologists  of 

the  present  order  tell  us  that 

Interests   of    their  interests  are  in  harmony, 
Classes         and  point  to  the  co-operation. 

Antagonistic  of  labor  and  capital  to  substan- 
tiate this  claim.  It  is  true 
that  production  requires  the  co-operation  of 
labor  and  capital,  but  this  fact  does  not  touch 
the  question  of  the  division  of  the  product. 
It  is  here  that  the  interests  are  diametrically 
opposed.  This  is  the  other  half  of  the  truth, 
that  the  capitalist  apologists  dare  not  tell.  It 
is  the  interest  of  each  class  to  get  as  large  a 
portion  of  the  product  as  possible.  As  the 
product  is  divided  into  two  parts  it  is  certain 
that  both  cannot  secure  the  larger  share.  The 
value  created  by  a  day  or  a  year  of  social 
labor  is  a  constant  quantity,  and  is  equal  to 
the  value  of  the  labor-power  and  the  surplus 
value.  If  a  constant  quantity  consists  of  two 
parts,  it  is  self-evident  that  you  cannot  in- 
crease one  without  diminishing  the  other,  or 
divide  the  quantity  so  that  each  shall  have  the 
larger  portion.  Thus  it  is  seen  that  as  wages 
and  profits  are  both  parts  of  the  products  of 
labor,  one  cannot  be  increased  without  dimin- 
ishing the  other.  The  economic  interests,  then, 


52 MI  LIT  A  XT  AND 

of  laborers  and  capitalists  are  not  identical.  The 
class  interests  assert  themselves  in  the  division 
of  the  product — each  struggles  to  get  the 
larger  share.  Let  no  one  be  deceived  by 
thinking  that  because  labor  and  capital  co- 
operate and  are  necessary  to  each  other  in  the 
production  of  wealth,  that  the  interests  of 
laborers  and  capitalists  are  in  harmony.  Many 
superficial  persons  are  led  to  accept  this  capi- 
talist philosophy  through  a  failure  to  distin- 
guish between  capital  and  the  capitalist.  In 
modern  production  the  capitalist  has  become, 
so  far  as  the  productive  process  is  concerned, 
a  useless  appendage.  The  function  of  direc- 
tion previously  performed  by  him  has  been 
handed  over  to  hired  employees.  But  as  the 
capitalist  owns  the  capital,  the  tools  necessary 
to  labor,  he  is  master  of  the  situation.  Here, 
note,  the  capitalist  performs  no  part  in  the 
productive  process — the  co-operation  is  not 
between  the  capitalist  and  labor  but  between 
capital  and  labor.  What  we  seek  to  eliminate 
is  not  capital  but  the  capitalist.  However,  we 
bear  no  enmity  against  individuals.  We  rec- 
ognize that  the  capitalist,  like  the  pauper,  is 
the  legitimate  product  of  the  present  system  of 
industry.  It  is  the  system  that  works  injus- 
tice— individuals  are  not  responsible.  The  sys- 
tem rends  society  into  economic  classes.  The 
class  having  possession  of  the  means  of  live- 
lihood— lands,  factories,  mines,  railroads,  etc. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 53 

— are  able  to  keep  the  non-owning  class  in  a 
condition  of  dependence  and  servitude. 

A  class  struggle  naturally  and  inevitably  en- 
sues between  these  two  great  economic  classes. 

Both  have  organized  to  further 

Class          their  ends, — the   laborers   into 

Struggle       trade    unions,    the    capitalists 

Inevitable      into     employer's    associations. 

In  the  National  Association 
of  Manufacturers  there  are  500  local  associa- 
tions in  the  United  States  and  3,500  of  the  most 
representative  manufacturing  concerns  in  the 
country.  The  Citizens'  Industrial  Association 
of  America  has  affiliated  with  it  600  national 
association,  66  state  or  district  associations, 
and  355  local  or  municipal  associations  of  em- 
ployers.6 These  associations  are  designed  to 
do  for  the  employing  class  what  the  labor 
unions  are  doing  for  the  working  class,  that  is, 
advance  the  interests  of  those  connected  with 
it.  The  struggle  between  these  two  classes  is 
incessant — when  not  an  open  warfare  there  is 
merely  an  armed  truce.  There  can  be  no  peace 
in  capitalist  society — the  struggle  will  go  on 
until  the  proletariat  is  victorious.  The  vision 
of  the  social  revolution  has  resulted  in  the  ele- 
vation of  the  proletariat  and  this  revolutionary 
consciousness  is  requisite  to  the  furtherance 
of  its  political  power.  If  the  proletariat  de- 


•    6Labor  Problems,  Adams  and  Sumner,  p.  279. 


_54 MILITANT  AND 

sires  its  freedom  it  must  not  lose  sight  of  its 
historic  mission  and  narrow  its  vision  to  the 
incidents  and  interests  of  the  passing  moment. 
Militant    Socialism,    as    previously    pointed 
out,  is  primarily  a  movement  of  the  proletariat 
class,  but  this  does  not  mean 
Character         that  only  workers  are  welcome 
Socialist        in  the  movement;  in  fact,  there 
Movement      are  many  others  in  the  Social- 
ist  ranks — those   who   see   the 
justice  of  the  Socialist  claims  and  the  higher 
civilization  that  Socialism  would  bring.    While 
Socialism  would  serve  only  the  class  interests 
of  the  working  class,  it  would  serve  the  higher 
interests  of  all.     Comparatively  few,  however, 
rise  to  this  higher  level.     We  cannot  expect 
those  enjoying  large  special  privileges  to  will- 
ingly relinquish  their  advantage.     They  nat- 
urally desire  to  perpetuate  the  system  that  en- 
ables them  to  live  in  idleness  off  the  labors 
of  others. 

Modern  Socialists  recognize  the  fact  of  class 
struggles — such  struggles  are  implied  in  their 
theory  of  social  evolution.   But 
Socialists       class     struggles    are     not     in- 
Recognize      vented,     as     some     ignorantly 
Class          seem    to    think,   by    Socialists. 
Struggle       These  historic  struggles  began 
with  the  introduction  of  slav- 
ery.   From  that  day  to  this  the  history  of  man- 
kind has  been  the  history  of  class  distinctions 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 55 

and  class  struggles  between  the  ruling  and  the 
ruled.  But  the  struggles  between  the  earlier 
divisions — slaves  and  masters,  serfs  and  feudal 
lords — were  of  little  consequence,  the  upris- 
ings were  only  sporadic.  Neither  slaves  nor 
serfs  were  able  to  emancipate  themselves,  al- 
though the  struggles  of  the  latter  toward  the 
end  of  the  feudal  regime  were  more  effective. 
Ancient  slavery,  as  already  stated,  disinte- 
grated and  a  new  ruling  class  arose  through 
change  of  conditions  or  by  invasion,  as  in 
ancient  Rome.  Feudalism  was  destroyed  by 
the  rise  of  a  new  economic  class,  whose  inter- 
ests were  opposed  to  the  feudal  regime.  The 
organization  of  the  free  craftsmen  into  guilds 
and  the  rise  of  a  commercial  and  monied  class 
— the  beginnings  of  the  modern  capitalist — 
was  the  cause  of  a  new  class  struggle  which 
overthrew  the  feudal  nobility.  The  develop- 
ment of  capitalism  gave  rise  to  the  modern 
class  distinctions  and  the  class  struggle  be- 
tween the  capitalist  and  proletariat  classes.7 
Class  struggles,  then,  are  not  the  result  of  agi- 
tation— they  rise  out  of  economic  conditions. 
The  present  class  struggle  inheres  in  the  pres- 
ent system  and  will  continue  as  long  as  the 
system  exists. 
Those  who  profit  by  the  class  struggle  ob- 

7This  period  is  well  covered  by  Mr.  Unterman  in 
his  Marxian  Economics,  and  by  Mr.  Spargo  in  his 
Socialism,  ch.  IV,  VI. 


56 MILITANT  AND 

ject  to  having  attention  called  to  it,  because 
they  wish  to  perpetuate  it.  The  Socialists  call 
attention  to  this  struggle  because  they  wish 
to  abolish  it.  They  thus  seek  to  enlighten  the 
workers  concerning  their  own  interests ;  in 
other  words,  make  them  class-conscious — con- 
scious of  their  interests  as  a  class  and  conscious 
of  the  fact  that  they  can  only  improve  their 
interests  by  advancing  the  interests  of  the  class 
to  which  they  belong.  The  Socialists  point  out 
that  the  control  of  the  political  power  is  neces- 
sary to  any  class  that  would  permanently  im- 
prove its  economic  condition,  and  seek  to  unite 
the  whole  working  class  into  a  political  party 
that  will  serve  its  interests — the  Socialist 
Party. 

The  complete  triumph  of  the  Socialist  Party 
would  mean  the  abolition  of  class  rule  and 
economic  dependence-  Herein 
Abolition  the  coming  revolution  differs 
of  Class  from  all  preceding  changes.  In 
Rule  former  revolutions  class  super- 

seded class,  but  the  continu- 
ance of  private  ownership  resulted  in  estab- 
lishing a  new  despotism.  But  the  economic 
conditions  out  of  which  the  present  class  strug- 
gle will  deliver  the  workers  are  such  that  the 
emancipation  of  the  proletariat  must  neces- 
sarily carry  with  it  the  emancipation  of  all 
society. 

The  working  class  cannot  free  itself  except 
by  socializing  the  means  of  production.  When 
these  instruments  are  socially  owned,  the  cause 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 57 

of  all  economic  dependence  and  oppression  will 
be  abolished.  When  the  working  class  is  su- 
preme, the  last  act  of  class  government  will  be 
to  remove  this  cause  of  class  division  and  class 
struggles.  Thus,  while  as  Militant  our  cause 
is  identified  with  class,  as  Triumphant  it  is 
identified  with  humanity.  This  is  the  distinc- 
tion between  Militant  and  Triumphant  Social- 
ism. Militant  Socialism  is  primarily  a  move- 
ment of  the  proletariat  class;  Triumphant  So- 
cialism will  abolish  class  divisions  and  make 
humanity  supreme.  The  cycle  of  class  divi- 
sions, which  began  with  the  introduction  of 
slavery,  will  end  with  the  advent  of  Socialism. 
In  the  coming  regime  there  will  be  but  one 
class — humanity — to  which  every  member  of 
society  will  be  recognized  as  belonging. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Scientific  Versus  Utopian  Socialism 

Of  course,  one  may  be  a  Socialist  who  merely 
believes  in  the  Socialist  ideal  of  society,  with- 
out     knowing     the      Socialist 
Socialist  and    theory   of   social   evolution   or 
Scientific       the  origin  of  surplus  value  or 
Socialist        even    recognizing    the    prole- 
tariat  character  of  the   move- 
ment, but  he  cannot  be  a  Scientific  Socialist 
without  knowing  and  accepting  the  fundamen- 
tal principles  of  the  Marxian  philosophy.    Sci- 
entific Socialism  includes  a  knowledge  of  the 
present  system  and  its  workings,  as  well  as 
the  doctrines  and  advantages  of  the  Socialist 
system.    A  knowledge  of  the  Socialist  philoso- 
phy is  also   necessary   to   guard   against   the 
futile  dreams  of  Utopianists. 

Perhaps  it  might  not  be  amiss  to  say  a  word 

concerning  these  well  meaning  gentlemen,  for 

there  are  many  who  tell  us  that 

Modern        the  only  way  to  improve  social 

Reformers      conditions  is  for  all  who  desire 

to  attain  that  end  to  unite  upon 

some  measure  tending  in  that  direction  and 

push  it  to  a  successful  issue.    In  order  to  unite 

all  factions  some  incidental  reform   must  be 

chosen,  but  we  are  told  that  one  reform  after 

another  could  be  adopted  and  so  the  end  sought 

gradually  realized.    This  is  the  program  of  the 

non-Socialist  reformer. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 59 

Such  a  reformer  is  either  of  a  middle  class 
type  who  wishes  merely  to  strengthen  the  posi- 
tion of  his  class,  or  of  an  idealogic  type  who 
imagines  that  each  social  evil  is  separate  and 
can  be  removed  by  some  readjustment  within 
the  present  social  system.  Such  reformers  fail 
to  trace  the  social  evils  to  their  source — all  such 
are  symptoms  of  a  diseased  body  economic — 
and  also  fail  to  recognize  the  fact  of  class  rule 
which  is  an  effective  barrier  to  any  measure 
that  touches  the  interests  of  the  capitalist 
class.  So  long  as  the  enforcement  of  laws  de- 
pends upon  the  capitalist  officials  little  can  be 
accomplished.  We  have  many  laws  on  the 
statute  books  now  which  are  practically  dead 
letters,  simply  because  the  executive  function 
of  government  is  held  by  the  representatives 
of  capitalism.  Socialism  is  the  only  remedy  for 
the  various  evils  and  the  first  step  toward  their 
elimination  is  to  man  the  ship  of  state  with 
Socialist  officials. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  What  assurance  have 
we  that  the  Socialist  official  will  not  betray  his 

trust?    I  answer,  Every  assur- 
Socialist       ance  in  the  world.     As  a  mat- 
Officials        ter  of  fact,  the  old  party  poli- 
Trustworthy    tician  is  not  false  to  his  trust — • 

he  is  always  true  to  the  capital- 
ist class.  He  owes  his  nomination  and  election 
to  the  capitalist  class  and  he  does  not  sell  it  out. 
For  the  same  reason  the  Socialist  official  will  be 


60 MILITANT  AND 

true  to  his  class, — the  class  to  which  he  owes 
his  nomination  and  election, — the  proletariat. 
As  an  agent  of  this  body  he  will  ever  be  sub- 
ject to  its  will — provision  has  been  made  to 
this  end.  There  is  no  more  danger  of  the  So- 
cialist official  betraying  his  trust  than  of  the 
capitalist  himself.  Hundreds  of  Socialists  have 
been  elected  to  office  in  various  countries. 
How  many  did  you  ever  hear  of  selling  out? 
If  the  capitalists  really  believed  that  Socialism 
could  be  thus  easily  thwarted,  they  would  not 
be  making  such  strenuous  efforts  to  oppose  its 
propaganda.  No,  the  capitalists  realize  that  at 
last  they  have  met  a  political  force  that  cannot 
be  bought  or  bullied.  The  movement  is  bound 
to  go  on  in  its  conquests  until  it  is  in  control 
of  all  branches  of  the  government.  When  this 
is  accomplished  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in 
reducing  the  Socialist  ideals  to  practice.  How- 
ever, no  sudden  transformation  is  expected — no 
one  is  looking  to  change  the  whole  order  at  a 
single  stroke.  But  the  great  industries  are  now 
ready  for  social  ownership  and  the  transforma- 
tion will  be  effected  as  rapidly  as  practical. 

While  Socialists  work  for  the  goal  of  social 
revolution  they  at  the  same  time  welcome  any 
measure  that  will  alleviate  the 
Ameliorative  evils  of  capitalism.     But  there 
Measures      are    many    propositions    mas- 
querading under  the  name  of 
reform  which  are  really  reactionary  and  which 
we  cannot  be  expected  to  endorse.    We  have 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 


61 


no  quarrel,  however,  with  real  ameliorative  ef- 
forts, although  with  reform  methods  and  many 
alleged  reforms  we  are  not  in  accord.  The 
Socialist  Party  has  always  advocated  measures 
that  tend  to  mitigate  present  evils,  as  may  be 
seen  by  an  examination  of  the  immediate  de- 
mands in  its  platform. 


CHAPTER  IX 
Propaganda  and  Tactics 

Now  a  word  as  to  the  method  of  propaganda. 

Here  we  find  an  important  distinction  between 

the     Scientific    Socialists    and 

Propaganda  what  may  be  called  the  reform- 
step-at-a-time-Socialists — those 
who  expect  to  realize  their  ideals  by  piece- 
meals within  the  present  system  and  while  the 
present  ruling  class  is  in  full  control.  The  lat- 
ter wastes  time  and  effort  in  singling  out  spe- 
cial measures  and  treating  them  separately. 
He  will  devote  a  whole  evening  to  direct  legis- 
lation and  perhaps  succeed  in  convincing  some- 
one of  the  advisability  of  the  measure.  But 
when  our  reformer  Socialist  is  through  he  has 
not  made  a  Socialist  of  the  man.  It  may  be 
contended  that  the  man  has  taken  a  step.  But 
how  long  would  it  take  in  this  way  to  make  a 
thorough-going  Socialist  of  him?  As  a  matter 
of  fact  but  little  has  been  accomplished.  It  is 
much  better  to  present  straight  Socialism  in 
the  first  place.  Make  a  Scientific  Socialist  of 
a  man  and  you  have  already  convinced  him  of 
the  benefits  of  direct  legislation,  national 
ownership  of  railroads,  municipal  ownership 
of  electric  light,  gas,  etc. — all  these  are  in- 
cluded in  the  Socialist  program.  A  man 
might  be  convinced  of  the  advisability  of  the 
government  ownership  of  all  these  social  utili- 
ties, and  still  not  be  a  Socialist.  The  method 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 63 

of  the  Scientific  Socialist  is  more  effective.  He 
uses  all  these  instances  as  illustrating  and  en- 
forcing his  demand  for  the  collective  owner- 
ship of  capital,  but  he  does  not  permit  them 
to  obscure  the  central  principle.  All  these 
special  instances  are  but  parts  of  the  whole 
and  naturally  and  necessarily  follow  from  the 
central  demand.  Standing  alone  none  of  them 
are  of  sufficient  importance  to  warrant  the 
concentration  of  effort  upon  them.  And  not 
only  so  but  the  conditions  are  sucfi  today  that 
it  is  fully  as  easy,  if  not  easier,  to  make  a  full 
fledged  Socialist  of  a  man  as  to  convince  him 
of  the  desirability  of  any  half  way  measure. 
The  presentation  of  Socialism  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  Scientific  Socialist  is  so  logical 
and  forcible  that  it  carries  conviction. 

Now  a  word  as  to  tactics.  While  all  So- 
calists  believe  in  a  social  revolution — a  com- 
plete transformation  of  the 
Tactics  economic  base  and  superstruc- 
ture of  society — there  is  a  dif- 
ference of  tactics,  of  method,  in  accomplishing 
the  desired  result.  The  Scientific  Socialist  be- 
lieves that  the  social  revolution  is  to  be 
wrought  by  the  mastery  of  the  political  power 
by  the  proletariat  class.  The  reform  Socialist 
rejects  this  method  and  seeks  the  social  trans- 
formation only  through  reforms  generously 
granted  by  the"  ruling  class. 

But  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  re- 


64  MILITANT  AXD 

forms — all  reforms  are  not  steps  toward  So- 
cialism, some  are  directly  in 
Difference  the  interests  of  the  ruling  class 
in  Reforms  or  some  section  of  it.  I  have 
already  pointed  out  the  nature 
of  middle  class  reforms.  Let  me  here  give  an 
illustration.  There  is  a  great  difference  be- 
tween the  government  ownership  demanded  by 
the  non-Socialist  reformer,  and  the  public 
ownership  demanded  by  the  Scientific  Social- 
ist. The  former  wants  government  ownership 
in  the  interests  of  the  middle  class ;  the  latter 
wants  public  ownership  in  the  interests  of  the 
working  class,  the  real  public.  Whether  a 
measure  is  a  step  toward  Socialism  or  not — 
whether  it  is  a  revolutionary  reform  (as  all 
Socialist  reforms  are)  or  merely  a  middle  class 
reform — depends  upon  its  internal  mechanism, 
upon  the  standpoint  from  which  it  proceeds. 
A  measure  may  be  apparently  such,  that  is,  it 
may  be  so  in  outward  form,  while  its  internal 
working  may  be  anti-Socialist  and  designed  to 
serve  the  interests  of  the  capitalistic  class. 
Such  public  ownership  would  not  bring  us  any 
nearer  the  Co-operative  Commonwealth.  Rus- 
sia owns  her  railroads,  and  Germany  her  rail- 
roads, insurance  and  banking,  but  these  coun- 
tries are  practically  no  nearer  Socialism  than 
the  United  States  where  these  businesses  are 
in  private  hands.  We  are  not  considering  the 
question  of  the  relative  value  of  private  and 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 65 

public  capitalism — even  admitting  that  the  lat- 
ter is  in  many  ways  better  than  the  former — 
but  of  the  best  and  surest  method  of  attain- 
ing the  Socialist  ideal.  It  is  very  much  to  be 
regretted  that  any  who  have  caught  a  glimpse 
of  the  Socialist  ideal  should  be  caught  by  the 
non-Socialist  reform  bait.  All  Socialist  re- 
forms have  for  their  object  the  economic  and 
political  strengthening  of  the  working  class — 
they  are  proletariat  conquests  and  prepare  the 
way  for  the  inauguration  of  the  new  order. 
We  are  not  adverse  to  taking  a  "step-at-a- 
time,"  if  the  step  is  in  the  right  direction — if 
it  leads  towards  the  goal. 

As  the  Socialist  movement  advances  in  the 
United   States   we   may   expect   the   capitalist 
class    to    adopt    some    of    the 
Capitalists'     measures  of  the  Socialist  pro- 
Adoption  of    gram — such    as    are    least    in- 
Socialist        jurious  to  its  interests.     This 
Measures       effort  at  self  preservation — an 
attempt  to  delay  the  full  adop- 
tion of  the  Socialist  program — was  the  poli- 
cy of  Bismark   in   Germany,  and  it  will   un- 
doubtedly be  tried  in  other  countries.     Scien- 
tific Socialism  is  the  only  safe-guard  against 
such    a    flank    movement    of    capitalism.     No 
Scientific  Socialist  will  be  caught  by  this  decoy 
duck  policy. 

And  here  note  that  any  concessions  granted 


66 MILITANT  AND 

by  the  ruling  class  will  not  be  the  result  of  the 
reform-socialistic    tactics,    but 
Cause  of       the  result  of  the  rising  tide  of 
Concessions    the     revolutionary     Socialist 
vote.    Thus  the  only  effective 
way,   even   to   secure    something   now,    is   to 
follow  out  the  tactics  of  the  Scientific  Socialist. 
Any  other  method  will  not  only  be  futile  in 
attaining   the   whole   loaf,   but   the   half   loaf 
sought  will  turn  out  a  stone.     The  Scientific 
Socialist  will  not  be  misled  into  abandoning 
his  tactics  of  independent  political  action  by 
any  pretense  or  promise  the   capitalist   class 
may  put  forth.    He  knows  that  in  the  attain- 
ment of  his  aims,  the  political  supremacy  of 
the  proletariat  class  is  absolutely  necessary. 

A  knowledge  of  Scientific  Socialism,  then, 
is  necessary  to  guard  against  the  futile  dreams 
of  reactionary  and  superficial  reformers. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 


PRELUDE 
Fundamental  Principle  of  the  New  Order 

Man  has  ever  longed  for  a  better  order  of 
society,  one  in  which  peace,  justice  and  plenty 

should  reign  supreme.  But  this 

The  Ideal      dream  of  a  perfect  order  could 

Order         not  be  realized  in  the  economic 

conditions  of  the  past.  It  is 
only  in  modern  times  that  the  industrial  devel- 
opment has  made  possible  its  fulfillment.  So- 
cial systems  are  not  put  on,  as  a  man  puts 
on  a  suit  of  clothes,  ready  made.  Evolution, 
not  special  creation,  is  the  method  of  social 
progress.  The  ideal  of  the  future  state  of 
society  perceived  by  the  Scientific  Socialists 
is  not  a  scheme  wrought  out  of  the  inner  con- 
sciousness, but  a  system  which  is  the  natural 
outcome  of  the  present  order,  the  outlines  of 
which  are  already  taking  shape  in  the  indus- 
trial and  labor  world. 

The  Scientific  Socialist  does  not  pretend  to 
give  all  the  details  of  the  new  order,  nor  is  it 
to   be   expected   when   we    re- 
Collectivism      member  that  Triumphant  So- 
Essential  to      cialism  is  not  a  cut  and  dried 
New  Order     scheme,  but  the  next  stage  in 
the   social   and  economic   evo- 
lution.    That  the  new  order  will  have  for  its 


fundamental  principle  the  collective  ownership 
of  capital — the  social  means  of  production — is 
quite  evident.  The  industrial  evolution  which 
has  socialized  the  method  of  production  fore- 
shadows the  socialization  of  the  social  instru- 
ments of  production.  This  contradiction  be- 
tween the  new  form  of  production  and  the  old 
form  of  ownership  is  the  basis  of  the  whole  so- 
cial conflict  today.  The  solution  of  this  con- 
tradiction can  only  be  effected  by  making  the 
method  of  ownership  correspond  with  the 
method  of  operation.  We  cannot  go  back  to 
the  days  of  small  things,  but  Ve  can  make  the 
tools  socially  used  socially  owned.  It  is  clear, 
then,  that  the  social  ownership  of  the  great 
means  of  production  will  be  the  dominant  prin- 
ciple of  the  new  order.  The  social  production 
and  ownership  will  be  national  or  municipal 
according  as  the  product  is  for  general  or  local 
consumption.  This,  of  course,  does  not  ex- 
clude co-operative  ownership  of  certain  lines 
by  groups  of  workers. 

I  wish  now  to  point  out  some  of  the  results 
and  advantages  that  will  follow  the  adoption 
of  this  principle. 


CHAPTER  I 
Abolishment  of  Exploitation 

It  is  often  supposed  that  laborers  would  still 
be  exploited  under  Socialism.  This  error  arises 
from   the   fact   that    Socialism 
Social          does    not    necessarily    demand 
Ownership     the  collective  ownership  of  all 
Not  All-       the  means  of  production,  but 
Inclusive        only  such  as  are  social  in  char- 
acter and  upon  which  the  lives 
of  the  people  depend — those  instruments  which 
cannot  be  privately  owned  without  working 
social  injury  and  individual  injustice.    The  aim 
of  Socialism  is  to  place  in  the  hands  of  pro- 
ducers the  means  of  livelihood,  and  this  re- 
quires the  socialization  of  such  instruments  as 
are  social  in  character ;  that  is,  such  as  are  co- 
operatively used.    Tools  which  are  used  by  in- 
dividual owners  may  remain  in  private  hands. 
The  small  farm,  for  instance,  is  an  illustration 
of  such  a  business.     Here  the  means  of  liveli- 
hood are  already  in  the  hands  of  the  worker 
and    there    is   no   demand    for   socialization — 
such  means  of  production  are  not  capital. 

While  all  land  under  Socialism  would  be- 
long to  the  public  and  the  ultimate  title  would 
be  vested  in  the  government, 
Agriculture     still  a  man  could  own  a  farm 
Under         to   all    practical   purposes,   for 
Socialism      he   could   secure  a   permanent 
lease  of  the  land  for  a  nominal 
sum  such  as  he  now  pays  in  taxes.    Such  farm- 


70 MILITANT  AND 

ers  would  be  much  better  off  than  they  are 
today — they  would  receive  the  full  value  of 
their  product  and  not  have  to  divide  with  a 
host  of  middlemen  and  other  exploiters.  They 
could  purchase  their  machinery  and  other 
necessities  at  cost,  and  market  their  product 
without  giving  the  lion's  share  to  railroad  cor- 
porations, grain  elevator  owners,  etc.  But  we 
expect,  however,  that  agriculture  in  most  lines 
will  sooner  or  later  become  socialized,  because 
of  the  waste  and  inefficiency  of  the  present 
method.  If  the  small  farmers  do  not  see  the 
advantage  of  such  organizations,  society  might 
equip  large  tracts  of  land  and  give  practical 
demonstrations  of  the  economy  of  organized 
agriculture.  We  believe  the  benefits  of  organ- 
ized agriculture  will  lead  the  farmers  to  first 
form  co-operative  societies  and  operate  the 
land  in  common.  We  know  it  is  claimed  that 
in  some  things  intensive  farming  is  more  prof- 
itable. If  so,  private  production  might  hold 
the  field  in  those  lines.  But  it  has  been  dem- 
onstrated that  in  many  things  farming  on  a 
large  scale  is  more  economical.  But  even  here 
if  a  farmer  wants  to  keep  on  in  the  old  way 
no  one  will  interfere  with  him,  but  we  think 
the  smaller  returns  as  compared  with  those 
engaged  in  social  production  will  eventually 
lead  farmers  to  seek  the  better  way.  When 
agriculture  is  sufficiently  socialized  so  that  the 
production,  then  individual  production  in  those 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 71 

lines  at  least  would  likely  disappear,  because 
no  one  could  succeed  in  producing  goods  for 
sale  or  exchange  in  competition  with  the  com- 
monwealth, any  more  than  individual  produc- 
tion can  now  compete  with  the  social  produc- 
tion of  the  trust.  There  is  no  statute  today 
prohibiting  men  from  carrying  on  production 
on  a  small  scale,  but  small  production  is  becom- 
ing more  and  more  difficult.  Nevertheless,  if 
any  man  should  wish  to  raise  wheat  or  make 
shoes  there  would  be  no  law  to  prohibit  him, 
but  his  undertaking  would  not  be  financially 
successful,  inasmuch  as  he  could  not  produce 
the  goods  as  cheaply  as  the  collectivity. 
The  cost  of  a  pair  of  shoes  socially  produced 
would  not  be  one-fourth  their  cost  under  indi- 
vidual production.  A  man  would  be  foolish  to 
produce  shoes  for  exchange  which  cost  him 
four  times  the  labor  that  he  could  get  for  them. 
He  could  not  afford  to  put  four  hours'  labor 
in  an  article  which  would  bring  him  but  one 
hour's  labor  in  return.  His  labor  in  the  social 
factory  would  be  four  times  as  productive  as 
in  his  small  shop.  Thus  he  would  not  be  able 
to  produce  shoes  profitably  either  for  exchange 
or  for  himself.  Even  the  cobbler  today  is  not 
able  to  produce  in  competition  with  the  large 
factory. 

But  could  not  the  capitalist  erect  a  large 


72 MILITANT  AND 

factory  and  introduce  machinery  and  so  pro- 
duce as  cheaply  as  the  national 
Large          factories?       This     supposition 
Private        presupposes  that  the  capitalist 
Production     could  hire  laborers  and  exploit 
Impossible     them  as  today.    But,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  he  could  not  hire 
them  at  all  unless  he  paid  them  as  much  as 
they  could  make  working  for  themselves.     In 
the  social  factory  they  could  get  all  they  pro- 
duced— the  full  product  of  their  toil.8    No  pri- 
vate producer  could  carry  on  production  and 
give  to  his  employees  the  entire  product,  con- 
sequently there  could  be  no  private  produc- 
tion in  factory  or  on  farm  on  a  large  scale. 
No  laws  need  be  enacted  prohibiting  such  pro- 
duction ;  it  would  be  rendered  impossible  by 
positive  social  action. 

When  Socialism  is  first  inaugurated  there 

will  undoubtedly  be  many  small  branches  of 

industry  still  unorganized.    Or- 

Socialist        ganization  will  go  forward  rap- 

Vs.  idly  under  the  new  order,  but 

Capitalist       it  will  not  be  accompanied  by 

Organization   the  evils  necessitated  by  such 

organization  under  capitalism. 

Today  if  a  small  producer  is  transformed  from 

a  worker  in  a  small  field  into  a  worker  in  a 


*Some  have  thought  that  because  the  State  and 
municipality  would  need  large  revenues  to  carry  on 
their  work  under  Socialism — the  extension  and  im- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM  73 

larger  field,  it  means  his  transformation  from 
a  property  holder  into  a  proletarian.  But  un- 
der Socialism  the  absorption  of  the  small  in- 
dustry by  the  larger  one  would  render  the 
middle  class  man  a  partner  in  the  improved 
and  enlarged  industry  and  he  would  then  par- 
ticipate in  the  advantages  of  the  larger  pro- 
duction. All  industries  which  are  carried  on 
by  inferior  methods  and  which  are  capable 
new  method  becomes  the  dominant  method  of 
of  socialization  would  soon  pass  into  the  hands 

provement  of  industry,  the  erection  of  public  build- 
ings, the  education  of  children,  the  care  for  the  un- 
fortunate, the  provision  for  the  superannuated,  etc. — 
that  the  laborer  could  not  receive  the  full  product 
of  his  toil.  But  the  portion  of  the  product  which 
will  thus  go  to  the  State  and  municipality  is  for 
social  benefit  and  so  comes  back  to  each  member 
of  society.  It  is  therefore  strictly  true  that  each 
will  receive  the  full  product  of  his  or  her  toil — 
either  as  direct  income  or  as  social  benefit.  We 
have  all  been  children  and  we  all  hope  to  enjoy  a 
ripe  old  age,  and  so  will  gladly  contribute  in  return 
and  anticipation  for  this  benefit  and  protection,  etc. 
— Socialism  is  the  cheapest  and  safest  form  of  insur- 
ance ever  devised.  The  revenues  expended  in  pub- 
lic buildings  and  the  extension  of  production  are  all 
public  benefits  and  will  be  equally  enjoyed  by  all. 
It  is  far  more  economical  and  efficient  for  the  people 
collectively  to  build  a  library,  a  museum  or  art  gal- 
lery than  for  each  individual  to  attempt  to  own 
one  himself.  The  portion  contributed  to  such  en- 
terprises by  each  individual  does  not  represent  a 
lessening  of  income,  for  in  no  other  way  can  he  se- 
cure such  a  large  return  for  so  little  cost. 


74 MILITANT  AND 

of  the  collectivity — national  or  municipal — but 
the  change  would  not  be  accompanied  by  ruin 
and  misery. 

There  are  some  vocations  which  may  never 

be  completely  socialized.     Thus,  while  there 

would  be  social  organization  of 

Vocations      medical   attendants,   yet   there 
Not  may  also  be  private  physicians. 

Completely     If  any  one  should  wish  to  part 

Socialized  with  any  portion  of  his  income 
to  secure  private  medical  at- 
tendance there  would  be  no  objection.  Un- 
doubtedly for  a  time  after  the  transition  many 
people  may  retain  private  physicians,  but  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  public  serv- 
ice would  be  superior  to  the  private  service, 
and  would  soon  become  paramount.  Even  to- 
day public  hospitals  are  encroaching  on  the 
individual  practice  of  physicians,  just  as  public 
schools  are  driving  out  private  schools. 

Again,  the  demand  for  the  products  of  artis- 
tic hand  labor  may  be  greatly  increased  under 
Socialism.  Those  who  desire  thus  to  satisfy 
their  personal  taste  will  find  ample  oppor- 
tunity. But  all  such  little  businesses  will  be 
only  incidental.  However,  the  laborers  en- 
gaged in  them  will  be  perfectly  free  and  can 
produce  for  private  consumers  or  for  the  open 
market.  Many  undoubtedly  will  follow  such 
lines  as  avocations  while  regularly  engaged  in 
social  production  in  a  national  factory. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM  75 

All  such  services,  then,  as  medicine,  art, 
etc.,  which  can  not  be  easily  centralized,  may, 
in  a  measure,  and  for  some  time,  at  least,  if 
not  always,  be  left  to  private  payment. 

One  thing,  however,  is  certain,  whatever 
vocations  or  businesses  are  temporarily  or  per- 
manently left  in  private  hands  the  business  of 
the  labor  exploiter  will  be  relegated  to  innocu- 
ous desuetude.  Socialism  by  setting  the  stand- 
ard of  labor  remuneration  and  labor  conditions 
would  abolish  all  exploitation. 


CHAPTER  II 
Industrial  Depressions  to  Cease 

The  capitalist  system  leads  to  disaster,  if 
not  in  a  straight  road,  at  least  by  a  wave-like 
advance — comparative  prosper- 
Industrial  ity  alternating  with  industrial 
Depressions  depressions.  The  depressions 
Periodic  are  of  periodic  occurrence.  In- 
dustry runs  in  what  is  called  a 
"vicious  circle."  Beginning  with  the  crisis  of 
1815,  ten  such  catastrophes  have  afflicted  this 
country.  They  are  also  worldwide  and  nearly 
contemporaneous  in  all  great  nations.  These 
periods  of  adversity  follow  great  industrial 
activity,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  activity  pre- 
ceding the  crises  of  1893  and  1907.  But  de- 
pressions may  come  on  gradually  without  a 
financial  panic,  or  a  panic  may  appear  as  the 
first  evidence  that  the  body  economic  is  out 
of  order.  After  a  depression  has  lasted  for 
some  years  the  glut  is  relieved  and  business 
slowly  begins  to  recover.  It  begins  cautiously 
but  orders  increase  and  soon  the  bankruptcies 
are  forgotten  and  the  engines  of  production 
are  again  at  full  speed,  each  producer  trying 
to  outdo  his  competitor,  and  all  producing  in 
the  dark  without  knowledge  of  the  extent  of 
the  demand.  This  procedure  invites  another 
catastrophe  and  it  comes  in  response  to  the 
call. 

The  organized  and  centralized  control  of  in- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 77 

dustry  tends  to  lessen  the  frequency  of  indus- 
trial depressions  in  so  far  as  they  are  due  to 
the  maladjustment  of  industry,  but  it  also  tends 
to  gradually  lengthen  the  periods  of  depression 
and  make  them  chronic.  Not  only  this  but 
the  centralized  financial  power  opens  the  way 
for  the  deliberate  production  of  crises  and 
panics  for  the  express  purpose  of  squeezing  the 
small  capitalist  and  stockholders  who  are  the 
mere  hangers-on  of  the  large  capitalists. 

The  causes  of  industrial  depressions  inhere 
in  the  capitalist  system  of  industry.    The  prod- 
uct created  by  labor  today  is 
Division       divided    into    two    parts:    one 
Under         goes  to  the  laborers  in  the  form 
Present        of  wages,  the  other  to  capital- 
System         ists,  landlords,  and  other  gen- 
tlemen at  large  in  the  form  of 
interest,  rent  and  profits.    The  worker  can  buy 
back  only  a  portion  of  the  product  even  at  fac- 
tory prices.    But  to  the  factory  price  is  added 
the  profits  of  a  long  series  of  middlemen  and 
retailers,  which  result  in  greatly  increasing  the 
factory  price.     Then,  when  we  take  into  con- 
sideration money  spent  for  rent,  doctor's  bills, 
insurance,  pleasure,  etc.,  it  is  evident  that  the 
laborers  can  only  purchase  a  small  per  cent  of 
the  goods  they  have  produced. 

The  capitalists,  on  the  other  hand,  being 
comparatively  small  in  number,  are  unable,  by 
their  best  efforts,  to  consume  "their"  portion 


78  MILITANT  AND 


of  the  product,  and  thus  a  large  surplus  is  left 
on  their  hands  for  which  there  is  no  commer- 
cial demand. 

The  result  of  this  condition  is  most  serious. 

As  production  is  carried  on  for  profit,  it  ceases 

as  soon  as  profit  is  threatened. 

The  Result  Production  can  only  be  sus- 
tained by  consumption  and 
consumption  is  limited  by  wages.  The  wages 
paid  will  not  buy  back  the  product  produced, 
consequently  a  glut  takes  place  and  depression 
results.  We  are  confronted  by  a  condition  of 
over-production  or  rather  under-consumption, 
for  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  the  former 
so  long  as  men,  women  and  children  are  in 
need.  The  laborers  would  gladly  consume 
more,  but  their  wages  will  not  permit  them  to 
do  so,  and  all  the  while  the  tools  are  becom- 
ing more  and  more  gigantic  and  are  turning 
out  an  ever-increasing  product,  while  wages, 
if  not  stationary  or  declining,  at  least  do  not 
advance  in  proportion  to  the  increasing  prod- 
uct. Laborers  are  less  and  less  able  to  buy 
back  the  product  of  their  toil.  Unless  some 
outlet  can  be  found  for  this  surplus  product, 
production  must  cease  at  intervals  until  the 
excess  is  consumed. 

The  capitalists  have  sought  an  outlet  in  for- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 79 

eign  markets.  Capitalism  has  reached  a  point 
of  development  in  the  United 
Foreign  States — a  point  long  since 
Markets  reached  in  Europe — where  it 
must  expand  or  burst.  Foreign 
markets  are  necessary  to  capitalism.  This  is 
recognized  by  eminent  capitalists  and  their 
apologists.  Mr.  Chauncey  M.  Depew  some 
years  ago  pointed  out  that  we  produce  $2,000,- 
000,000  more  wealth  every  year  than  we  can 
consume.  Hon.  E.  C.  Smith,  Post  Master 
General  under  President  McKinley,  said  that 
the  "Economic  problem  of  the  world  today  is 
the  distribution  of  the  surplus."  He  then  went 
on  to  point  out  that  "Under  this  stress  the 
great  nations  of  Europe  are  struggling  for 
Empire  and  trade.  They  are  scanning  the 
whole  horizon  for  new  fields  of  conquest,  col- 
ony and  commerce.  Around  the  Yellow  Sea 
and  the  adjacent  waters  is  a  population  of 
500,000,000  and  a  potential  trade  of  thousands 
of  millions.  Why  should  we  not  play  for  our 
legitimate  share  of  the  great  stake?" 

This,  indeed,  is  what  we  have  been  doing 
- — our  whole  foreign  policy  is  the  result  of 
greedy  commercialism.  It  evidences  the 
criminality  of  capitalism,  which  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  sacrifice  the  life  and  liberty  of  a  people 
in  the  interests  of  private  profit.  The  capital- 
ist class  must  have  markets  and  opportunity 
to  invest  their  surplus  capital,  no  matter  at 


80 MILITANT  AND 

what  cost  to  others.  And  all  that  is  needed  to 
enlist  the  blind  support  of  the  people  in  car- 
rying out  their  nefarious  schemes  is  to  cover 
them  with  the  cry  of  "Patriotism."  Great 
wrongs  have  always  been  perpetrated  in  the 
name  of  humanity,  civilization,  and  patriot- 
ism. It  is  only  thus  that  the  ruling  class  can 
gain  the  moral  support  of  the  people. 

But  this  search  for  foreign  markets  although 
necessary  to  capitalism  can  afford  no  per- 
manent relief,  it  will  react  at 

Relief  Not     length  and  hasten  its  downfall. 

Permanent  Russia,  Japan,  and  Australia 
are  already  being  closed  to  us 
— they  are  developing  into  industrial  states 
and  will  soon  supply  their  own  wants.  They 
are  introducing  our  methods  and  will  ere  long 
become  serious  competitors.  The  capitalists 
have  recognized  this  fact,  and  have  seen  the 
need  of  transplanting  industries  to  the  Far 
East.  With  the  acquisition  of  the  Philippines 
the  American  capitalists  can  organize  great 
industrial  plants  there,  and  with  the  cheap 
labor  of  the  country  can  control  the  markets 
of  that  section. 

But  the  opening  of  the  Philippines  is  only 
a  beginning.  The  capitalists  are  bound  to 
have  the  cheap  labor  of  China  and  if  they  can- 
not get  it  here,  owing  to  the  exclusion  laws 
which  the  laborers  have  had  power  to  enact, 
they  will  take  the  machines  to  China.  The 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 81 

capitalists  will  produce  in  the  East  the  goods 
needed  to  supply  the  Eastern  market,  and 
perhaps  ultimately  will  produce  there  to  meet 
the  competition  of  Europe.  If  the  goods  are 
produced  there  less  will  be  produced  here,  and 
less  labor  will  be  employed  at  home.  It  is  not 
absolutely  impossible  that  the  cheap  goods 
produced  by  American  capitalists  in  the  Far 
East  may  not  be  sold  in  the  United  States  in 
competition  with  the  American  home  made 
product !  American  capitalists  already  have 
branches  of  manufacture  in  foreign  countries 
in  order  to  secure  trade,  but  produce  certain 
lines  of  goods  in  the  United  States  to  supply 
the  foreign  trade — marked  of  course  with  the 
foreign  stamp — and  it  will  be  but  a  step  for 
them  to  produce  abroad  and  mark  with  the 
home  name  and  sell  in  America !  Free  trade 
or  a  low  tariff  with  our  Eastern  possessions  is 
all  that  is  needed.  The  capitalists  can  be  de- 
pended upon  to  provide  the  way.  If  the  mid- 
dle class  cannot  now  successfully  compete 
with  the  trust,  what  chance  would  it  have 
under  such  conditions? 

The  American  capitalist,  by  the  means  of 
better  machinery  and  more  efficient  labor,  has 

had  an  advantage  over  his  for- 

Leveling       eign  competitor,  but  it  will  not 

of  Wages      be  long  at  the  present  rate  of 

progress   before    industry    will 

be  as  much  developed  there  as  here,  and  then 


82 MILITANT  AND 

competition  will  be  fiercer  and  fiercer.  When 
all  capitalist  nations  stand  on  practically  the 
same  mechanical  basis,  there  will  be  a  leveling 
of  wages.  With  the  same  mechanical  means, 
foreign  laborers  will  become  as  efficient  as  the 
American,  for  skill  is  being  eliminated  by  au- 
tomatic machinery.  It  is  quite  evident  that 
wages  will  then  fall  to  the  level  of  the  "pau- 
per wages  of  Europe."  We  have  now  reached 
a  point  where  protection  is  of  but  little  or  no 
benefit  to  labor,  inasmuch  as  we  produce  more 
than  we  consume  and  so  must  seek  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world. 

The  laborer's  outlook,  under  the  present  sys- 
tem, is  not  encouraging.  Unless  the  capital- 
ists have  foreign  markets  they 
Labor's  cannot  dispose  of  the  surplus 
Outlook  and  so  will  not  allow  labor  to 
Discouraging  produce  more.  If  they  have 
the  foreign  markets  they  must 
adjust  conditions  to  meet  foreign  competition, 
and  so  reduce  wages,  and  finally,  they  will  be 
compelled  to  establish  industries  in  the  East 
in  order  to  meet  the  competition  of  other  cap- 
italists who  are  producing  there.  And  every 
dollar's  worth  of  goods  produced  for  the 
American  capitalist  in  the  East,  means  just 
so  much  less  employment  for  labor  in  the 
United  States.  The  laborers'  outlook  under 
the  present  system  is  appalling. 

The  Labor  statistics  of  New  York  State  show 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 83 

that  from  5  to  13  per  cent  of  the  trade  union- 
ists are  out  of  employment  in 
The  the  busiest  season  of  the  year, 

Unemployed  and  the  time  actually  lost 
through  unemployment  and  ir- 
regular employment,  varies  from  17  to  30  per 
cent.  In  the  fat  years  of  1899,  1900,  1901,  the 
average  trade  unionist  lost  one  out  of  every 
five  or  six  working  days.  The  labor  unions 
represent  the  better  trained  men  and  unem- 
ployment is  much  less  than  with  the  unskilled 
laborers.  In  Massachusetts  statistics  show 
that  in  normal  years  about  67  per  cent  of  the 
establishments  run  300  days  or  more ;  about 
23  per  cent  run  250  to  300  days,  and  about  10 
per  cent  less  than  250  days.  We  thus  see  that 
a  portion  of  the  time  the  factory  doors  are 
closed  to  everybody.  Large  numbers  of  la- 
borers in  normal  conditions  are  out  of  employ- 
ment all  the  time,  and  those  who  are  for- 
tunate enough  to  secure  regular  employment 
are  idle  a  portion  of  the  time — from  10  to  20 
per  cent  of  the  working  days  of  the  year.  The 
March  Bulletin  (1907),  N.  Y.  State  Depart- 
ment of  Labor,  gives  the  mean  of  unemploy- 
ment 1902-1905  as  15.1  per  cent.  In  periods 
of  industrial  depression  the  number  of  unem- 
ployed rises  into  the  millions.  Any  system 
that  cannot  provide  for  the  employment  and 
consequent  livelihood  of  the  people  is  doomed. 
The  profit  system  is  fast  breaking  down. 


84 MILITANT  AND 

What  is  the  remedy  for  this  deplorable  con- 
dition?    The  only  possible  remedy  is  for  the 
producing  class  to  acquire  pos- 
The  session   of  the   socially   neces- 

Remedy  sary  tools,  and  organize  indus- 
try and  carry  on  production 
for  use  instead  of  profit.  To  allow  a  few,  like 
dogs  in  a  manger,  to  monopolize  and  refuse  to 
the  workers  the  use  of  the  means  of  existence, 
simply  because  the  idle  class  could  not  make 
profit,  is  absurd.  The  evil  inheres  in  the  wage 
and  profit  system.  If  the  laborers  received 
the  full  product  of  their  toil  they  would  quick- 
ly dispose  of  the  surplus.  Every  dollar's 
worth  of  these  goods  which  the  capitalists  are 
so  anxious  to  sell  abroad  is  wealth  exploited 
from  labor  through  the  wage  system.  How 
long  will  laborers  rejoice  at  the  opportunity  of 
capitalists  to  sell  foreign  nations  the  things 
they  themselves  need?  Think  of  the  work- 
ingmen  pointing  to  the  long  list  of  exports 
and  rejoicing  because  the  products  of  their 
toil  are  being  sold  abroad  to  enrich  the  cof- 
fers of  the  capitalist  class !  As  Socialists  we 
protest  in  behalf  of  the  thousands  of  unfed, 
half  clothed  and  homeless  workers  against 
such  a  policy  and  necessity.  What  we  want 
is  that  these  goods  produced  by  labor  should 
go  to  labor.  Socialism  would  secure  to  the 
laboring  class  this  wealth.  It  would  inaugur- 
ate a  system  wherein  opportunity  to  labor 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 85 

would  be  secure  to  all  and  where  the  entire 
product  would  be  kept  and  enjoyed  by  those 
who  produce  it.  Until  society  is  organized  on 
a  co-operative  basis  we  shall  have  the  prob- 
lem of  industrial  depressions  ever  with  us. 
With  the  abolition  of  private  enterprise  on  a 
large  scale  and  the  consequent  exploitation  of 
labor,  industrial  depressions,  both  periodic  and 
chronic,  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past. 


CHAPTER  III 
Property  for  All  Assured 

This  ideal  was  impossible  in  the  days  of  hand 
labor,  because  men  could  not  create  greatly  in 
excess  of  their  needs.  In  order 
Impossible  to  multiply  production  fifty 
in  the  Past  fold  it  was  necessary  to  multi- 
ply the  number  of  workers  fifty 
fold.  But  this  multiplied  the  demand  on  the 
product  in  like  proportions  so  there  was  no 
surplus.  But  today  with  mechanical  power  it 
is  possible  to  multiply  the  product  fifty  fold 
— it  is  estimated  that  on  an  average  one  work- 
man with  machinery  produces  fifty  times  as 
much  as  one  man  formerly  did  by  hand — with- 
out any  multiplication  of  the  number  that  must 
live  on  the  product.  A  large  surplus  is  thus 
created.  But  the  laborers  who  create  this 
wealth  cannot  get  the  full  benefit  from  the  in- 
creased productivity  of  their  labor,  because  of 
the  conditions  under  which  production  is  car- 
ried on.  If  the  productivity  of  labor  should  in- 
crease a  hundred  or  a  thousand  fold,  the  re- 
sult would  be  practically  the  same — the  greater 
portion  of  the  increased  product  would  be  ap- 
propriated by  the  owning  class.  The  laborer's 
wages  have  no  relation  to  the  goods  pro- 
duced— wages,  as  shown  elsewhere,  are  deter- 
mined by  an  entirely  different  law.  The  rea- 
son prosperity  is  not  general  today  is  not  due 
to  inability  to  create  wealth — the  problem  is 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 87 

not  one  of  production,  but  of  distribution. 

Mr.  G.  L.  Holmes,  expert  of  wealth  statistics 

for  the  tenth  census,  found  0.3  per  cent  of  the 

people  owned  20  per  cent  of  the 

Statistics  of    wealth ;   8.79   per  cent   of  the 

Wealth        people,    51    per    cent    of    the 

Distribution    wealth,  and  91  per  cent  of  the 

people  only  29  per  cent  of  the 

wealth. 

Dr.  Spahr  estimates  that  seven-eighths  of 
the  families  hold  but  one-eighth  of  the  national 
wealth,  while  one  per  cent  of  the  families  hold 
more  than  the  remaining  ninety-nine  per  cent. 
Mr.  Lucien  Sanial,  a  competent  authority, 
divides  the  number  of  occupied  persons  ten 
years  and  over  into  three  classes :  The  pluto- 
cratic class,  numbering  250,251  persons  or  0.9 
per  cent,  owning  $67,000,000,000  or  70.5  per 
cent  of  the  total  wealth ;  the  middle  class,  num- 
bering 8,429,845  persons  or  29.0  per  cent,  own- 
ing $24,000,000,000  or  25.3  per  cent  of  the  total 
wealth;  the  proletariat  class,  numbering  20,- 
393,137  persons  or  70.1  per  cent,  owning  $4,- 
000,000,000  or  4.2  per  cent  of  the  total  wealth. 
Mr.  Robert  Hunter  estimates  that  in  so- 
called  "good  times"  there  are  ten  millions  in 
actual  want  in  the  United  States  and  the  con- 
dition in  other  countries  is  even  worse. 

No  one  can  claim,  then,  that  the  working 


MILITANT  AND 


class  is  prosperous.     As  a  class  its  members 
cannot  live  decently  and  save 
Laboring       anything  for  a  rainy  day.     A 
Class  Not      few   may   save   a  pittance,   by 
Prosperous     denying  themselves   of   every- 
thing   that    makes    life    worth 
living,  but  only  a  few.     It  is  not  necessary  to 
harrow  your  feelings  by  describing  the  dismal 
poverty  and  misery  that  can  be  seen  in  any 
city.     There  are  millions  of  people  who  are 
crushed  by  poverty  and  want,  and  driven  to 
dissipation   and   crime.     They   are   miserably 
housed,  shabbily  clothed,  and  poorly  fed.  They 
are  compelled  to  toil  unceasingly  from  morn- 
ing until  night  for  the  barest  necessities.  Even 
the  lot  of  those  more  fortunately  situated  is 
not  an  enviable  one,  for  they  must  forego  many 
of  the  pleasures  and  comforts  of  life,  and  can 
only  hope  at  the  most  to  be  decently  housed, 
clothed  and  fed,  while  the  few  exceptionally 
favored  can  only  by  great  sacrifice  come  to  own 
a  cheap  home  and  perhaps  lay  aside  a  pittance 
for  old  age.     The   condition  of  the  working 
class,  at  the  best,  even  in  periods  of  the  great- 
est industrial  activity,  is  a  scathing  denuncia- 
iton  of  our  present  system  of  industry.    To  be 
sure  when  business  is  good  the  wage  earners 
can  more  easily  find  employment  than  in  days 
of  depression,  but  their  wages  will  only  about 
equal  the  cost  of  living;  it  is  due  to  this  fact 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 89 

that  no  prosperity  under  the  wage  system  can 
secure  to  the  working  class  anything  in  ex- 
cess of  the  average  livelihood.  A  prosperity 
that  can  bring  to  the  working  class  nothing 
but  work,  is  not  the  kind  we  are  in  search  of. 
We  want  something  besides  drudgery,  yet  this 
is  the  only  kind  of  prosperity  possible  today. 
If  the  capitalists  would  take  to  themselves  a 
little  of  the  work  prosperity  and  give  to  labor 
a  little  of  the  wealth  prosperity,  it  would  at 
least  be  an  improvement  on  present  conditions. 
The  only  prosperity  possible  today  is  a  pros- 
perity of  a  few — a  prosperity  that  merely  util- 
izes the  workers  in  producing  wealth  for  the 
idlers. 

We  have  seen  how,  in  periods  of  so-called 
prosperity,  the  owners  of  the  instruments  of 
production  draft  on  to  the  ma- 
Capitalist      chines  a  larger  number  of  men 
Prosperity     to  be  utilized  in  grinding  out 
Spurious       profits.    When  the  cycle  of  ac- 
tivity has   run   its   course   the 
workers  are  again  laid  off,  and  made  to  depend 
on  charitable  doles  until  they  can   again  be 
employed  at  a  profit.     Capitalist  prosperity  is 
not  worthy  the  name — it  is  spurious  and  ephe- 
meral, even  such  as  it  is.    The  fact  of  poverty 
in  the  midst  of  plenty  is  a  disgrace  to  civiliza- 
tion.    But  we  can  never  hope  for  real  pros- 
perity— prosperity  for  all — so  long  as  the  pres- 
ent system  exists. 


90  MILITANT  AND 

Socialism  alone  can  secure  the  genuine  ar- 
ticle. It  is  generally  conceded  that  Socialism 
would  greatly  increase  produc- 
Trust  tion  and  so  increase  the  income 
Method  of  each  laborer.  The  trusts 
Applied  have  taught  us  the  benefits  of 
concentration  and  organization 
in  industry.  By  concentrating  production  in 
the  most  perfect  plants  they  are  able  to  close 
up  the  less  efficient  without  a  decrease  in  the 
output.  The  sugar  trust  closed  up  three- 
fourths  of  its  plants  and  the  whiskey  trust 
sixty-eight  of  the  eighty  large  distilleries,  and 
produced  in  the  remaining  as  much  as  was  pre- 
viously produced  in  the  whole  number.  The 
Socialist  regime  will  apply  this  principle  to  all 
social  production.  The  laborers  displaced  by 
the  culling  out  of  inefficient  industries  would 
then  be  available  for  other  productive  lines, 
but  as  the  object  of  Socialism  will  be  to  in- 
crease production,  a  portion  could  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  better  equipped  plants  where  by 
shifts  of  fewer  hours  each  a  greatly  increased 
product  would  be  produced.  When  capital  be- 
comes collective  property  there  will  be  no 
obstacle  to  thus  eliminating  all  inefficient 
methods  and  industries.  The  trust  has  pointed 
out  the  way.  The  productive  power  of  labor 
would  thus  be  greatly  increased  and  with  a 
corresponding  increase  in  the  individual  in- 
come, which  would  attract  laborers  from  para- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 


sitic  to  productive  activities,  and  so  further 
increase  the  productive  power  of  society.  Re- 
member, under,  Socialism,  the  more  workers 
the  more  produced  and  the  larger  the  individual 
income.  This  concentration  would  also  elim- 
inate the  enormous  wastes  of  the  present  order 
and  simplify  the  problem  of  supervision  of  in- 
dustry— all  of  which  would  accrue  to  society 
as  a  whole  instead  of  the  few  as  today.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  claim  that  by  the  application 
of  the  simple  trust  method  of  concentration  of 
production  into  efficient  plants,  without  any 
increase  in  new  machines,  the  product  would 
be  doubled  or  even  trebled  and  the  hours  of 
labor  reduced  one-half.  In  the  course  of  time 
the  large  productive  plants  may  be  increased 
in  number  so  that  shifts  would  not  be  neces- 
sary, but  we  see  what  could  be  done  imme- 
diately upon  the  triumph  of  Socialism. 

Prosperity  is  thus  possible  today.    It  is  only 

the  private  ownership  of  the  instruments  of 

production  that  stands  in  the 

Prosperity     way  of  an  unparalleled  increase 
Possible        of  the  world's  productive  pow- 
Today         er — such  an  increase  as  would 
give  an  abundance  of  the  good 
things  of  life  to  every  worker  in  return  for 
even  a  few  hours  of  joyful  labor.    Production 
today  is  carried  on  for  profits,  and  profits  de- 
pend on  limited  supply.     Prosperity  for  all  re- 
quires  abundance — the   needs   of   every   man, 


woman  and  child  to  be  fully  met.    But  abund- 
ance is  opposed  to  profit,  consequently,  produc- 
tion is  checked  as  soon  as  profit  is  threatened. 
Socialism  would  solve  the  problem  by  doing 
away  with  a  system  that  condemns  the  workers 
to  idleness  and  starvation  ex- 
Problem       cept    when    an    employer    can 
Solved         make  profit  out  of  them.     Un- 
der Socialism  production  would 
be  carried  on  for  use,  and  would  continue  until 
the  needs  of  all  the  people  were  fully  supplied. 
There  would  be  no  private  interest  to  inter- 
fere with  the  people  in  supplying  their  wants. 
With  a  scientific  organization  of  industry  this 
could  be  accomplished  with  three  or  four  hours 
labor.    Abolish  the  capitalist  monopoly  of  the 
means  of  livelihood   and  the   exploitation   of 
labor,  and  poverty  would  be  a  thing  of  the 
past.      Socialism    would    realize    a    prosperity 
that  would  be  genuine  and  permanent. 


CHAPTER  IV 
Proper  Incentive  to  Industry  Supplied 

Socialism  would  furnish  a  proper  and  suffi- 
cient incentive  to  industry. 
(1.)     By  the  enforcement  of  Paul's  rule,  "If  a 
man  will  not  work  neither  shall  he  eat." 

This  certainly  would  be  sal- 
Paul's  Rule  utary — many  to-day  at  both 
ends  of  the  social  scale  are  in 
need  of  such  a  stimulus.  Socialism  would 
not  compel  any  man  to  work,  but  he  would 
have  to  work,  if  physically  and  mentally  able, 
in  order  to  live.  Were  work  provided  for  all, 
no  relief  would  be  given  to  those  who  refused 
to  avail  themselves  of  it.  Under  socialism 
then,  men  would  work  because  they  prefer 
work  to  starvation.  Few,  however,  would 
need  such  a  stimulus  in  the  new  order.  When 
labor  becomes  atttractive  through  an  improve- 
ment in  its  condition  and  the  shortening  of 
hours,  men  will  seek  it  gladly.  The  love  of 
action,  the  desire  to  do  things,  have  always  led 
men  to  act  unless  prevented  by  adverse  sur- 
roundings. 

Under  Socialism,  work  being  honorable,  none 
will    think   of   shirking.     Today   the   "gentle- 
man" is  thought  to  be  the  man 
Work  Under  who  lives   in   idleness  off  the 
Socialism       labors  of  others.     Under   So- 
Honorable      cialism  the  man  who  tries  to 
escape  his  share  of  the  public 
burden  would  be  held  up  to  just  contempt.    To 


94 MILITANT  AND 

refuse  to  work  would  be  to  insult  the  state  and 
to  proclaim  one's  self  a  hater  of  his  fellows. 
Were  one  to  take  such  a  stand  his  fellows 
would  make  it  exceedingly  warm  for  him. 
When  idleness  becomes  disgraceful,  where  is 
the  man  that  could  withstand  the  jeers  of  his 
comrades?  Public  opinion  would  then  be  a 
most  effective  stimulant.  Under  Socialism  in- 
dolence will  become  a  thing  of  the  past — 
laziness  will  be  an  "offensive  form  of  self- 
ishness and  vulgarity."  Under  these  changed 
conditions  labor  will  be  a  joy  and  not  a  burden 
— Paul's  rule  will  then  soon  become  unneces- 
sary. 

(2.)   By  the  Dependence  of  Individual  Income 

Upon  the  Social  Product 
While  the  new  order  will  undoubtedly  take 
as  a  starting  point  the  ratio  of  wages  and  sal- 
aries in  vogue  at  the  time,  the 
Income        tendency  will  be  toward  equal- 
Dependent     ization.      When    the    ideal    is 
on  Social      realized,  as  it  will  be  in  the 
Product        "fullness  of  time,"  it  will  cer- 
tainly be  to  the  interest  of  the 
laborers  to  produce  as  much  as  possible,  inas- 
much as  their  enjoyment  will  depend  upon  the 

amount  produced.  The  income  of  each  would 
depend  upon  his  own  zeal  and  the  zeal  of 
others ;  consequently  every  laborer  would  be 
watchful  that  none  shirked  his  duty,  for  self- 
interest  and  justice  would  demand  that  each 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 95_ 

render  a  just  labor  energy  for  his  share  of  the 
product.  We  may  be  assured  that  the  man 
who  works  faithfully  will  not  permit  the  slug- 
gard to  come  in  for  an  equal  share.  Everyone 
would  be  interested  in  the  efficiency  of  labor, 
by  which  cost  would  be  reduced  and  the  social 
product  increased.  Whatever  method  of  dis- 
tribution is  adopted,  the  more  produced  the 
more  there  will  be  to  distribute. 

The  present  system  destroys  the  incentive  to 
labor.     Today  the  laborer's  maxim  is  to  ren- 
der as  little  labor  as  possible 
Wage          for  his  wages,  and  he  is  entire- 
System        ly  supine  in  regard  to  his  co- 
Destroys       worker's    conduct.      When    he 
Incentive       goes  to  work  his  wage  is  fixed, 
and  he  receives  no  more  pay 
for  extra  service.    He  knows  that  if  he  works 
extra  hard  today  his  master  will  expect  him 
to  do  as  well  or  a  little  better  tomorrow,  and 
not  only  that,  but  the  harder  he  works  the 
quicker  he  will  work  himself  out- of  a  job.  The 
larger  part  of  the  business  today  is  carried  on 
by  men  working  at  day  wages  or  on  fixed  sal- 
aries.    Not  only  the  labor  of  detail,  but  the 
control  and  superintendence  are  entrusted  to 
salaried  officers.     These  men  do  not  work  for 
themselves,  and  consequently  have  no  personal 
interest  in  their  work.     It  is  beyond  dispute 
that  the  present  system  of  money  wages  and 
fixed  salaries  does  not  produce  the  maximum 
of  zeal.9 


9Here  note  that  while  metallic  money  and  wages 


96  MILITANT  AND 

On  the  other  hand,  when  men  work  for  them- 
selves co-operatively  and  their  income  depends 

upon  their  faithfulness,  and  the 

Co-Operation  more  they  produce   the   more 

Produces       they  receive,  then  it  will  be  to 

Faithfulness    the  interest  of  all  to  use  their 

ability  to  the  best  advantage. 
Even  today  if  you  put  a  boy  to  hoeing  corn 
and  he  hoes  -five  rows  a  day  and  you  tell  him 
that  tomorrow  he  can  go  fishing  as  soon  as  he 
gets  his  five  rows  done,  the  probability  is  that 
his  stint  will  be  done  by  noon.  We  are  all  big 
children  and  when  placed  under  a  system 
where  it  would  be  advantageous  to  be  faithful 
and  productive,  we  can  be  sure  that  all  would 
gladly  respond.  Under  Socialism  every  worker 
would  be  a  partner  in  the  national  product. 
That  this  argument  is  valid  may  be  seen  by  the 
co-operative  enterprises  in  which  there  is  no 
abatement  but  rather  increase  of  zeal.  If,  un- 


may  be  retained  for  some  time  after  the  transition, 
when  Socialism  is  fully  established  both  will  become 
unnecessary.  When  Socialists  talk  about  the  aboli- 
tion of  money  they  mean  commodity  money.  Under 
Socialism  a  medium  of  exchange  need  not  be  based 
upon  intrinsic  value — commodity  money  is  only 
necessary  in  a  system  of  commodity  production — a 
paper  currency,  which  would  virtually  be  a  "labor 
check,"  or  "certificate,"  would  be  all  that  is  needed. 
The  abolition  of  metallic  or  commodity  money  is  not 
Utopian,  but  the  natural  result  of  the  abolition  of 
commodity  production  and- sale. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 97 

der  the  present  system,  a  small  share  of  the 
profits,  as  seen  in  profit  sharing,  stimulates 
the  worker,  how  much  greater  will  be  the  in- 
centive under  Socialism  where  the  laborers  re- 
ceive the  entire  product.  It  is  strange  that  any 
should  pretend  to  think  that  laborers  will  not 
be  faithful  unless  some  one  can  be  found  to 
exploit  them  out  of  three-fourths  of  the  wealth 
they  create. 
(3.)  By  the  Desire  to  Excel  and  the  Love  of 

Social  Esteem 

This  is  really  the  great  motive  power  today, 
although  often  checked  by  our  perverse  eco- 
nomic system.  Social  esteem 
Social  has  been  the  greatest  incentive 
Esteem  that  has  moved  men  in  all  ages. 
It  was  so  with  the  ancient 
Greeks  in  their  national  games;  it  is  so  today 
in  our  colleges  and  universities.  It  is  the  real 
motive  that  animates  men  in  every  department 
of  life.  Look  at  the  lifeboat  service,  the  fire 
department,  the  host  of  editors,  ministers, 
authors,  inventors,  etc.  Look  at  men  striving 
at  cricket,  baseball,  football.  Is  all  this  effort 
and  zeal  for  money  incentive?  The  chief  rrio- 
tive  here  is  love  of  approbation,  desire  to  excel, 
social  esteem.  How,  in  the  light  of  these 
facts,  can  any  claim  that  greed  is  the  motive 
power  of  the  human  race?  Men  of  culture 
and  genius  have  generally,  if  not  always,  served 
the  world  without  mercenarv  incentive.  Men 
will  always  do  more  for  love,  honor  or  fame 


98 MILITANT  AND 

than  they  will  for  money.  The  lives  of  Bruno, 
Galileo,  Newton  and  a  host  of  explorers  and 
martyrs,  evidence  this  truth.  For  the  sake  of 
love,  truth,  duty,  religion,  men  and  women 
will  suffer  imprisonment  and  martyrdom. 
Who  will  do  as  much  for  pecuniary  gain?  No, 
friends,  greed,  even  today,  is 
Greed  not  the  chief  motive  of  life.  It 
Not  Chief  is  surely  not  the  dominant 
Motive  motive  with  the  artist,  the  sci- 
entist, the  statesman,  or  jeven 
with  most  business  men.  In  seeking  wealth 
men  do  it  for  what  they  think  it  will  bring — 
admiration  and  enjoyment.  If  they  thought 
this  end  could  be  attained  in  some  other  way, 
Mammon  would  not  have  so  many  worshippers. 
Aside  from  the  need  of  securing  the  daily  nec- 
essities of  life,  the  two  chief  motives  that  actu- 
ate men  to  acquire  money  is  the  wish  to  pro- 
vide for  the  future  of  the  family  and  the  desire 
to  purchase  applause.  The  former  is  due  to 
love  and  the  latter  to  vanity,  both  of  which  are 
stronger  motives  than  mere  greed.  Socialism 
would  so  reconstruct  society  that  there  would 
be  no  fear  of  want,  neither  could  wealth  pur- 
chase applause  or  secure  honor.  Success,  even 
in  industry,  would  no  longer  be  measured  by 
the  accumulation  of  a  fortune.  The  industrial 
director  would  then  become  a  public  function- 
ary and  as  such  would  be  moved  by  higher  con- 
siderations. Under  the  changed  conditions,  the 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 99 

higher  motives,  which  in  certain  fields  have 
been  so  long  subordinated,  will  come  into  full 
activity  and  serve  as  a  stimulus  to  higher  en- 
deavor and  increased  excellence. 

The  only  incentive  Socialism  would  destroy 
is  that  which  adulterates  food,  produces  shoddy 
clothes,   builds   fire-trap   tene- 
Kind  of        ments,  etc.    Do  away  with  the 
Incentive      reward  of  crookedness  and  men 
Socialism      will  be  men.    Thus,  while  cap- 
Destroys       italism  destroys  both  incentive 
and  opportunity  to  faithful  and 
efficient   labor,    Socialism    would    furnish   the 
greatest  stimulus  to  exertion  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen. 


CHAPTER  V 
Political  Corruption  to  Disappear 

It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  the  fact  of 
political  corruption.    Most  people  are  so  famil- 
iar with  it  that  they  take  it  as 
Political       a  matter  of  course.    They  say 
Corruption     government     is     corrupt     and 
Universal      there  is  no  hope  of  improve- 
ment.    Others  are  more  opti- 
mistic, due  perhaps  to  lack  of  experience,  and 
they  tell  us  something  can  and  should  be  done 
to  remove  this  growing  evil.    These  people  are 
actuated  by  noble   motives,  but  their  efforts 
betray  an  utter  lack  of  knowledge  concerning 
the   economic   question,  and  consequently  of 
the  causes  of  the  evil  they  seek  to  remove. 
Failing  to  trace  the  evil  to  its  source,  they 
waste  their  time  dealing  with  effects.     They 
observe  that  men  in  public  position  frequently 
betray  their  trust  and  so  conclude  that  the 
fault    lies    with    the    individual,    and,    conse- 
quently, demand  that  better  men  be  elected 
to   public    offices.     This   accomplished,    they 
think  the  problem  solved. 

Usually  such  advocates  of  reform  have  but 
little  conception  of  practical  politics,  and  ab- 
solutely no  conception  of  the 
Reformers      fact  that  the  economic  rulers 
Well-Meaning  are  the  political  rulers.     They 
little  realize  the  power  they  are 
up  against,  and  the  difficulty  in  the  way  of 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 101 

getting  men  nominated  and  elected  that  are 
not  tools  of  the  ruling  class.  They  have  also 
failed  to  observe  that  their  remedy  has  been 
tried  time  and  again  and  usually  proved  in- 
effective even  where  the  difficulties  have  been 
surmounted  and  good  men  elected  to  office. 
The  temptations  which  beset  the  public  offi- 
cial under  the  present  system  are  often  more 
than  his  weak  human  nature  can  stand. 

Now  let  us  inquire,  What  is  the  cause  of 
political  corruption?  The  cause  is  the  oppo- 
sition of  private  to  public  in- 
Cause  of  terests.  Self-interest  is  the 
the  Evil  root.  Legislators  and  council- 
men  are  bribed,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  by  those  owning  vast  aggrega- 
tions of  wealth  that  special  privilege  may  be 
obtained.  Every  trust,  corporation,  or  impor- 
tant business  interest  today  is  admitted  to  be 
politically  a  corrupting  power.  If  necessary, 
the  officials  are  bought  outright,  but  frequently 
a  little  stock,  a  railroad  pass,  or  trolley  blue 
ticket  is  all  that  is  required.  So  long  as  in- 
dividuals or  corporations  can  advance  their 
own  interests  at  the  expense  of  the  public, 
so  long  there  will  be  legislative  corruption. 
The  lobby,  of  which  so  many  complain,  is  but 
an  effect  of  which  self-interest  is  the  cause. 
It  is  a  perfectly  natural  concomitant  of  the 
present  system  of  industry.  Many  a  man  who 
was  honest  and  upright  when  he  entered  pol- 


102 MILITANT  AXD 

itics  has  fallen  from  grace.  The  incentives  to- 
day to  corruption  are  too  great  to  hope  for 
much  improvement.  If  men  were  perfect  be- 
ings they  might  administer  the  present  system 
honestly  and  justly,  but  in  the  present  stage 
of  human  development  the  temptations  seem 
almost  more  than  frail  humanity  can  bear. 
So  long  as  government  must  be  administered 
by  imperfect  beings,  it  would  seem  the  only 
wise  course  to  remove  the  motive  of  perfidy 
and  dishonor.  It  is  surely  the  height  of  ab- 
surdity for  reformers  to  place  all  their  efforts 
upon  getting  good  men  in  office,  and  leave  un- 
touched a  system  of  industry  that  makes  them 
bad  as  soon  as  they  get  in.  If  the  powers  that 
be  are  unsuccessful  in  corrupting  the  official, 
he  finds  himself  isolated  and  at  the  expiration 
of  his  term  laid  upon  the  shelf. 

Our  friends  are  working  at  the  wrong  end 
of  the  problem.     It  is  futile  for  them  to  blame 
individuals,   to   censure   public 
Individuals     officials,    for    doing    the    very 
Not  to  Blame  thing  they  are  expected  to  do. 
If  we  support  the  system  we 
ought  not  to  make  war  on  those  who  admin- 
ister it.     Neither  does  it  do  any  good  to  rail 
at  the  political  machine  and  boss.     These  are 
effects,  not  causes.    We  might  destroy  a  cer- 
tain political  machine  and  boss,  but  unless  we 
change  the  system  another  machine  and  boss 
would  come  into  existence.     Xo  political  boss 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 103 

could  long  retain  his  power  were  it  not  for  the 
contributions  he  is  able  to  secure  from  cor- 
porate interests  in  return  for  favors  rendered. 
It  is  corporate  pap  that  builds  up  and  main- 
tains the  political  machine.  In  New  York 
City  the  municipal  ailment  is  not  Tammany 
Hall,  but  the  business  interests  that  use  Tam- 
many Hall  to  buy  legislation  at  Albany  and 
at  the  City  Hall.  Behind  the  political  ring  is 
the  private  owners  of  public  franchises.  Pub- 
lic corruption  is  merely  the  overflow  of  busi- 
ness corruption.  It  is  mere  shortsightedness 
that  blames  the  ward  politician  and  public 
official.  A  little  careful  examination  will  reveal 
the  fact  that  the  ward  politician  and  public 
official  are  merely  agents  of  those  who  are 
endeavoring  to  subserve  their  material  inter- 
ests. 

Political  corruption  arises  at  the  point  where 
government    and    commercial    interests    come 
into  contact.     Government  de- 
Point  at       pends    upon    private    corpora- 
Which         tions  to  furnish  many  things  it 
It  Arises       needs,  and  the  private  corpor- 
ations bribe  public  officials  to 
secure  contracts.    The  corruption  is  due  to  the 
private  ownership  of  the  industries  that  pro- 
duce   the    government     supplies.       Socialism 
would  make  these  industries  public  and  so  re- 
move the  cause  of  political  corruption.     Noth- 
ing short  of  Socialism,  however,  would  suffice. 


104 MILITANT  AND 

The  railroad  graft  in  the  postal  system,  for 
instance,  would  be  removed  by  socializing  the 
railroads.  But  the  public  railroads  would  have 
to  depend  upon  private  corporations  for  their 
rails,  coal  and  various  material  used,  and  the 
door  to  public  corruption  would  again  be 
opened  in  the  letting  of  new  contracts.  The 
evil  here  could  only  be  removed  by  the  public 
ownership  of  these  industries.  These  public 
industries  would  depend  upon  other  private 
businesses  to  furnish  their  supplies,  and  so  the 
field  of  public  ownership  would  have  to  be  ex- 
tended to  practically  all  industries  before  the 
possibility  of  corruption  would  be  entirely  elim- 
inated. But  when  these  businesses  are  all  pub- 
lic, the  government  would  no  longer  be  at  the 
mercy  of  private  corporations,  and  political 
corruption  would  be  a  thing  of  the  past — there 
would  be  no  public  contracts  to  let  and  no  pri- 
vate business  to  corrupt  public  officials.  Graft 
is  always  in  the  interests  of  private  business. 
No  one  ever  heard  of  a  city  or  nation  raising 
a  fund  to  bribe  its  councilmen  or  congressmen 
— it  is  the  owners  of  asphalt  plants,  brick  yards, 
fire  hose  supplies,  steel  plants,  transportation 
lines  and  other  industries  that  produce  things 
the  city  or  nation  need,  that  bribe  legislators. 
Under  Socialism  these  industries  will  be  so- 
cially owned  and  the  cause  of  this  corrup- 
tion will  be  removed. 

The  remedy,  then,  for  this  deplorable  condi- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM  105 

tion  is  quite  clear.  If  the  cause  of  political  cor- 
ruption is  the  opposition  of 
The  Remedy  private  to  public  interests,  the 
remedy,  as  already  intimated, 
is  to  remove  this  antagonism,  to  make  the  in- 
terests of  the  individual  identical  with  the  pub- 
lic interests;  in  other  words,  to  remove  these 
interests  from  private  or  corporate  manage- 
ment and  control  and  thus  render  it  impossible 
for  men  to  subserve  individual  interests  by  vio- 
lating the  public  trust,  and  then  faithful,  honest 
legislation  will  be  secured.  If  men  could  not 
advance  their  own  interests  at  the  expense  of 
the  public  they  would  have  no  motive  to  bribe 
public  officials.  Under  Socialism  there  would 
be  no  opportunity  to  raid  the  public  treasury 
or  secure  fraudulent  appropriations,  for  there 
would  be  no  opportunity  for  individuals  to  en- 
gage in  large  enterprises.  There  would  thus 
be  absolutely  no  motive  for  one  to  secure 
special  privileges  at  the  expense  of  the  public. 
One  could  only  secure  an  excess  of  commodities 
which  he  would  be  unable  to  consume  or  dis- 
pose of.  For  the  same  reason  the  official  would 
have  no  motive  to  sell  out  even  if  there  were  a 
buyer,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  would 
be  no  one  with  any  interest  to  purchase,  how- 
ever much  he  might  desire  to  sell.  Under  So- 
cialism no  one  would  have  a  desire  to  accu- 
mulate a  great  fortune,  for  he  could  not  capi- 
talize it  and  make  it  a  source  of  productivity. 


106 MILITANT  AND 

Political  corruption  is  inherent  in  the  pres- 
ent system,  and  so  long  as  the  system  remains 
we  cannot  hope  for  much  improvement.  There 
is  only  one  remedy — the  abolition  of  the  system 
of  antagonisms,  in  which  the  interests  of  every 
man  are  set  against  the  interests  of  every  other 
man  and  of  society  as  a  whole.  Socialism  will 
make  all  interests  identical.  Socialism  alone 
will  remove  both  motive  and  opportunity  for 
corruption — it  will  pluck  the  evil  up  by  its 
roots.  Remove  capital  from  private  control 
and  you  remove  the  cause  of  political  jobbery. 
Remove  the  cause  and  the  effect  will  disap- 
pear. 

Socialism  would  greatly  simplify  government 
and  render  unnecessary  its  obnoxious  powers, 
which  result  from  our  false  or- 
Government  ganization  of  society.  Social- 
Under  ism  means  industrial  self-gov- 
Socialism  ernment,  a  Social  Democracy, 
in  which  the  people  are  their 
own  masters.  In  such  a  system,  with  no  eco- 
nomic classes,  the  government  would  neces- 
sarily be  democratic,  it  would  represent  all  the 
citizens.  The  functions  of  government  would 
be  divided  into  two  departments — political  and 
economic.  The  former  would  deal  with  the 
administration  of  justice,  education,  health,  fine 
arts,  etc.,  the  latter  with  the  administration  of 
industries.  The  political  representative  might 
be  elected  by  general  vote,  but  the  economic 


107 


representatives  would  be  elected  by  the  various 
trades  and  callings — each  vocation  culminating 
in  a  department  chief.  The  two  functions  of 
administration  might  be  united  in  the  same 
body  or  the  two  branches  of  our  present  gov- 
ernment might  be  retained — one  being  the 
political  and  the  other  the  economic  House. 
Socialists  believe  in  decentralizing  government 
and  would  place  in  the  hands  of  the  city  all 
industries  possible  that  are  not  national  in  their 
scope.  Of  course,  the  Referendum,  Initiative 
and  Imperative  Mandate  (right  to  recall) 
would  be  applied  to  all  legislative  and  adminis- 
trative bodies — these  principles  are  necessary 
to  a  true  democracy. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  in  such  a  system  offi- 
cial corruption  would  be  an  impossibility. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Right  to  Life,  Liberty,  and  the  Pursuit  of 
Happiness  Secured  for  All 

If  a  man  has  the  right  to  life,  liberty  and 

the  pursuit  of  happiness,  he  has  the  right  to 

the  requisites  essential  to  this 

Security  of     end.    The  basis  of  life  and  the 

Livelihood  essential  requisites  to  liberty 
and  happiness  is  security  of 
livelihood.  This  is  the  foundation.  It  is  the 
business  of  society  to  guarantee  to  every  indi- 
vidual this  essential,  for  without  it  the  primal 
rights  of  man  would  be  invalid.  I  say  it  ic 
the  business  of  society  for  the  reason  that 
every  individual  is  a  member  of  society,  and 
society  ought  to  look  out  for  her  own. 

The  right  to  life  is  the  right  to  earn  a  live- 
lihood, the  right  to  liberty  is  the  right  to  be 
independent  of  the  whim  or 

The  Primal  caprice  of  a  master,  and  the 
Rights  right  to  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness is  the  right  to  leisure 
which  could  be  devoted  to  those  things  which 
delight  and  improve.  That  these  primal  rights 
are  not  secured  under  the  present  system  is 
too  obvious  for  discussion.  The  very  condi- 
tions of*  the  present  order  negative  their  reali- 
zation. 

The  private  ownership  and  control  for  pri- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM  109 

vate  profit  of  the  things  which  the  workers 
must  use  in  order  to  live,  is  the 

Economic  cause  of  economic  slavery. 
Slavery  There  is  only  one  solution  to 
the  problem.  We  cannot  go 
back  to  the  system  in  vogue  when  our  govern- 
ment was  founded,  the  system  of  small  things 
and  small  ownership.  Production  is  no  longer 
an  individual  process — men  must  work  to- 
gether in  large  numbers,  in  large  plants.  Those 
who  own  these  social  plants  own  and  control 
the  opportunity  to  work  and  live.  Since  pro- 
duction has  been  socialized,  we  must  socialize 
the  ownership  of  the  tools  to  correspond.  It 
is  only  by  collectively  owning  and  controlling 
the  things  which  are  collectively  used  that  the 
workers  can  escape  economic  servitude  and  se- 
cure the  conditions  requisite  to  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 

The     basic     assumption     of    capitalism     is 

wrong.     It  postulates  that  every  man  is  free 

to  secure  his  rights,  when,  in 

Man  Cir-      fact,    he    is    circumscribed    at 

cumscribed  every  turn.  Instead  of  equal 
opportunities,  we  are  con- 
fronted with  vested  privileges  which  give  to 
some  an  advantage  over  others.  The  average 
man  finds  himself  so  circumscribed  that  he  is 
forever  at  the  mercy  of  some  monopolist  of  the 
instruments  of  toil.  He  is  thus  absolutely  de- 
pendent, and  to  read  to  him  the  Declaration  of 


Independence  is  but  adding  insult  to  injury. 
It  is  all  very  fine  to  talk  of  life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  glory  in  the 
achievements  of  our  forefathers,  but  they  did 
not  foresee  that  the  economic  system,  then  in 
its  infancy,  would,  in  less  than  a  century,  pre- 
clude the  realization  of  their  ideals.  These 
rights,  however,  are  none  the  less  sacred  today 
than  when  they  were  embodied  in  their  mani- 
festo. But  they  will  never  become  the  heri- 
tage of  the  vast  majority  of  mankind  until 
Socialism  is  triumphant. 


CHAPTER  VII 
Social  and  Industrial  Evils  to  Vanish 

It  is  a  common  error  to  suppose  that  if  men 
were  only  good  the  evils  that  afflict  society 

would  disappear.  This  fallacy 
Good  Men  is  due  to  a  failure  to  trace  the 

evils  to  their  source.  Assum- 
ing that  social  and  industrial  ills  result  from 
the  perversity  of  human  nature,  they  inform  us 
we  need  only  to  make  men  good  and  the  prob- 
lem would  be  solved.  "Good  men,"  they  say, 
"would  make  good  conditions."  But,  judging 
from  observation,  the  conditions  which  such 
men  make  are  only  such  as  minister  to  the 
well-being  of  the  dominant  class — conditions 
that  meet  the  requirements  of  the  present  sys- 
tem of  industry.  The  usual  demand  to  put 
good  men  in  office  is  only  that  the  present  sys- 
tem of  government  may  be  administered  in  ac- 
cord with  the  conventional  ideas  of  right. 
Those  making  the  demand  have  no  idea  of 
altering  in  any  way  economic  relations,  or 
changing  the  present  capitalist  method  of  pro- 
duction. They  merely  desire  a  better  manage- 
ment of  public  affairs.  This  is  laudable  enough 
in  itself,  but  to  suppose  that  it  is  sufficient  to 
remedy  the  social  and  economic  evils  from 
which  we  suffer  is  to  evidence  gross  ignorance 
of  the  whole  question.  Were  we  to  place  men 
in  office  who  are  corruption  proof,  it  would  not 
remedy  the  situation,  for  the  evils  from  which 


112 MILITANT  AND 

we  suffer  are  inherent  in  the  system  itself. 
The  mere  making  men  good,  whether  they  oc- 
cupy a  private  or  public  position,  will  not  nec- 
essarily in  itself  make  such  conditions  as  will 
remove  the  cause  of  poverty  and  eliminate  the 
evils  which  afflict  humanity.  The  fact  of  a 
man's  being  good  and  well  disposed  does  not 
imply  a  knowledge  of  the  economic  question, 
and,  consequently,  of  the  means  necessary  to 
secure  justice  and  plenty  for  all. 

We  have  seen  that  the  cause  of  social  and 
economic  evils  is  due  to  the  private  ownership 
of  the  means  of  production  and  distribution. 
Here  is  the  basis  of  servitude  and  exploitation. 
Yet  many  men  called  "good"  appropriate  the 
product  of  others'  labor,  wholly  in  ignor- 
ance, apparently,  many  of  them  at  least,  of  the 
fact  that  they  are  living  at  the  expense  of  their 
fellows.  They  do  not  perceive  the  moral 
wrong  judged  by  the  higher  standard,  because 
the  prevailing  ideas  of  right,  etc.,  are  the  re- 
flex of  the  prevailing  economic  system.  The 
ruling  ideas  of  any  age  are  the  ideas  of  its 
ruling  class,  for  even  abstract  ideas  are  inter- 
preted by  this  class  to  suit  its  class  interests. 
Thus  under  slavery  it  was  considered  right  to 
own  human  beings  as  private  property,  just  as 
today,  under  capitalism,  it  is  considered  right 
to  own  the  social  instruments  of  production  as 
private  property. 

A  man's  being  good,  then,  does  not  insure  that 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 113 

he  will  apprehend  and  lend  himself  to  the  aboli- 
tion of  injustice.  All  men  might  be  good,  but 
so  long  as  the  means  of  existence  are  privately 
owned  poverty  and  want  will  stalk  hand  in 
hand  through  the  land. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  here  to  consider  the  quality 
of  this  "good ;"  suffice  it  to  say  that  really  good 

men  can  best  be  produced  and 
Power  of       kept  good  in  good  healthy  con- 
Environment   ditions.    Those  who  talk  about 

making  good  men  and  good 
men  making  good  conditions,  put  the  cart  be- 
fore the  horse.  Environment  is  an  important 
factor  in  shaping  human  life.  Philanthropists 
have  demonstrated  this — they  have  shown  that 
ninety  per  cent  of  children  taken  from  the 
slums  of  our  great  cities  and  placed  in  comfort- 
able homes  grow  up  into  respectable  men  and 
women.  If  left  to  grow  up  in  the  wretched 
surroundings  of  vice  and  crime  they  would 
contribute  to  the  criminal  and  outcasts  of  soci- 
ety. All  recognize  the  power  of  environment 
— none  want  their  boys  brought  up  in  vile  sur- 
roundings, or  their  girls  raised  in  brothels. 
They  realize  that  children  surrounded  by  such 
conditions  are  almost  certain  to  turn  out  bad. 
As  environment  is  the  chief  factor  in  determin- 
ing character,  we  should  surround  men  with 
an  environment  conducive  to  good  character. 
The  capitalist  method  of  endeavoring  to  pro- 
duce virtue  by  legislation  is  absurd.  It  pro- 


H4 MILITANT  AND 

vides  by  law  that  men  shall  not  steal,  cheat 
adulterate,  etc.,  but  the  conditions  are  such 
that  they  keep  right  on  stealing,  cheating  and 
adulterating.  Socialism  will  provide  an  en- 
vironment wherein  it  will  be  to  the  interest  of 
men  to  do  right. 

The     Socialist    offers    the    only    effective 
method  for  abolishing  these  evils.     Recogniz- 
ing the   scientific   fact   of   the 
The  economic  basis  of  society,  he 

Socialist  demands  a  betterment  of  these 
Method  economic  conditions.  The  in- 
dividualist is  at  work  at  the 
wrong  end  of  the  problem — he  fails  to  trace  the 
evils  to  their  source.  Society  is  an  organism, 
and  just  as  when  the  physical  organism  is  out 
of  order  the  symptoms  manifest  themselves  in 
various  ways,  so  when  the  social  organism  is 
diseased,  the  symptoms  take  on  various  forms 
— intemperance,  prostitution,  etc.  All  these 
symptoms  evidence  a  diseased  body  economic. 
There  is  but  one  remedy — do  away  with  the 
cause.  The  basis  of  our  industrial  order  is 
unjust,  its  operations  unchristian,  its  results 
damnable.  The  social  and  industrial  evils  are 
inherent  in  the  system  and  can  only  be  re- 
moved by  a  thorough  renovation. 

Making  men  good,  then,  is  not  sufficient  to 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 115 

bring  in  the  golden  age  of  society.     We  need 
to  supplement  the  moral  pur- 
Economic      pose  with  economic  knowledge. 
Knowledge     We    need    intelligent    men    as 
Necessary      well  as  men  with  good  inten- 
tions— men  with  sufficient  in- 
sight  into   the   economic   question   to   enable 
them  to  direct  their  efforts  aright.     We  do 
not  disparage  any  effort  to  make  men  better; 
we  only  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  indi- 
vidual goodness  is  no  remedy  for  social  ills. 
We   must   not   confound   individual   salvation 
with  social  salvation,  nor  the  means  adopted 
to  effect  the  one  with  those  necessary  to  se- 
cure the  other.    A  man  may  be  a  saint  but  that 
will  not  save  him  from  the  evils  of  a  perverse 
economic  order.     Many  a  man  of  ideal  char- 
acter is  the  victim  of  our  system  of  grab  and 
greed.    When  the  evil  is  social,  it  can  only  be 
remedied  by  social  readjustment. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Home  and  Family  to  be  Preserved 

Socialism  will  not  destroy  nor  injure  the 
home  and  family  as  some  unwisely  say,  but 
will  rescue  and  preserve  them  from  the  evils 
that  blight  them  now. 

(1)  By  Abolishing  Child  Labor 
Capitalism  has  taken  children  from  the  home 
and  put  them  into  the  factory,  store  and  mine, 
thus  making  them  a  part  of  the 
Child  Labor    machinery   of   profit  grinding. 
Child  labor  is  one  of  the  great 
evils  of  the  present  system. 

According  to  the  census  of  1900  there  were 
1,750,178  children  in  the  United  States  between 
the  ages  of  10  and  15,  inclusive, 
Statistics  engaged  in  gainful  occupations. 
This  is  18.2  per  cent  of  the 
total  number  of  children  of  those  ages.  Of 
these  1,061,971  were  employed  in  agriculture 
under  the  superintendency  of  parents,  and 
688,207  in  other  occupations.  The  number  has 
greatly  increased  since  1900.  The  National 
Child  Labor  Committee  estimates  the  number 
of  children  now  engaged  as  1,939,524.  But 
even  these  figures  are  far  below  the  actual 
facts.  Everyone  familiar  with  child  employing 
industries  knows  the  tendency  of  employers 
to  underestimate  the  number  of  children  em- 
ployed and  of  the  parents  to  overstate  the  ages 
of  the  children.  Many  examples  of  defective 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 117 

statistics  regarding  child  labor  are  given  by 
Mr.  Bliss  in  The  Encyclopedia  of  Social  Re- 
form. 

Then  the  statistical  report  takes  no  account 
of  children  at  work  under  ten  years  of  age. 
But  it  is  known  that  large  numbers  of  children 
are  employed  in  shops,  street  trades,  etc.  The 
New  York  State  Bulletin  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Labor  for  March,  1907,  contains  returns 
from  an  investigation  of  tenement  house  labor 
in  certain  districts  in  New  York  City.  In 
seven  streets  visited  there  were  found  193  chil- 
dren engaged  in  the  making  of  clothes,  arti- 
ficial flowers,  etc.,  ranging  in  age  from  5  to 
14  years — 64  of  these  were  under  10  years 
of  age.  Many  of  the  children  were  reported 
as  working  only  occasionally,  others  as  em- 
ployed regularly  for  the  entire  day,  and  some 
until  9  or  10  o'clock  at  night. 

This  is  a  horrible   state  of  affairs.     What 
shall  we  say  of  a  system  that  thus  sacrifices 
children   to   greed!     We   turn 
Children       in  horror  from  the  old  Moloch 
Sacrificed      worship,  but  what  better  are 
to  Greed       we  to_  sacrifice  the  lives  of  the 
little  ones  in  the  mills  and  fac- 
tories to  the  god  of  Mammon.    The  evil  results 
of  child  labor  are  frightful — physical  deteriora- 
tion, moral  depravity,  and  mental  inferiority. 
The  child  has  the  right  to  physical  develop- 
ment, to  good  health,  to  fair  education,  to  time 


118 MILITANT  AND 

for  play.  A  system  that  drives  large  num- 
bers of  its  children  to  long  hours  of  unrequited 
toil  in  factory  and  mine  commits  a  social  crime. 
Child  labor  is  a  menace  to  the  home,  to  in- 
dustry, to  morality  and  to  good  citizenship. 

Socialism  would  put  an  end  to  child  labor 
by  securing  to  the  head  of  the  family  a  suffi- 
cient income  to  enable  the  hus- 
The  Remedy  band  to  support  his  family 
without  the  necessity  of  turn- 
ing the  children  at  a  tender  age  into  bread 
winners.  The  children  of  the  well-to-do  classes 
are  not  sent  into  the  factory  when  they  should 
be  at  play  and  school,  and  we  can  be  assured 
it  would  not  be  so  with  the  poorer  classes  were 
it  not  an  economic  necessity. 

Socialism  would  give  to  the  children  of  all 
a  home  and  an  opportunity  to  enjoy  it.  Today 
the  homes  of  thousands  are  a  travesty,  and  the 
family  life  a  libel  on  the  sacred  institution  of 
marriage.  What  sort  of  a  home  and  family 
life  is  it  where  the  little  ones  are  denied  the 
pleasures  of  childhood!  Socialism  would  se- 
cure to  the  children  the  right  to  childhood.  De- 
stroy the  profit  grinding  system  and  secure  to 
labor  the  full  product  of  its  toil,  and  there 
would  be  no  motive  nor  necessity  for  child 
labor.  Socialism  would  thus  safeguard  the 
home  and  family  against  the  ravages  of  pov- 
erty and  greed. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM  119 

(2)  By  Abolishing  the  Necessity  for  the  Wife 

to  Aid  in  the  Support  of  the  Family 
Capitalism  not  only  takes  the  children  from 
the  home,  but  women  are  also  compelled  to 
seek  outside  work  to  help  eke 
Woman        out  the   family   income.     And 
Labor          ofttimes  the  wife's  wages  are 
the  only  means   of  livelihood, 
the  husband  being  unable  to  find  work  is  com- 
pelled to  remain  at  home  and  look  after  the 
household  as  best  he  can  while  the  wife  earns 
a  miserable  wage  at  the  factory! 

According  to  the  census  of  1900  there  were 
5,329,292  women  employed  in  the  303  occupa- 
tions, or  18  per  cent  of  the  fe- 
Statistics       males  over  ten   years  of  age 
The  number  of  women  wage- 
earners  is  constantly  increasing.    In  1890  there 
were  17.4  per  cent,  and  in  1880,  14.7  per  cent. 
Of  the  5,329,292  women  now  employed  1,927,- 
811  are  native  white  (native  parents)  ;  1,184,046 
native  white  (foreign  parents)  ;  880,415  foreign 
white;  1,316,872  Negroes;  20,148  Chinese,  Jap- 
anese and  Indian. 

What  has  been  the  results  of  woman-labor 
under  the  present  system?     The  question  is 
not    whether    woman    should 
Results        have  suitable  and  equal  oppor- 
tunity with  man  to  earn  a  live- 
lihood, but  what  has  been  the  result  of  the  en- 
trance of  woman  into  the  competitive  struggle? 


120 MILITANT  AND 

This  can  only  be  determined  by  considering  the 
economic  and  social  effects — the  question  of 
marriage,  the  birth  and  death  rate,  juvenile 
crime,  health  and  the  influence  on  the  home 
and  family  life. 

Many  quotations  might  be  given  to  show 
the  deleterious  results  of  woman  labor  in 
these  matters.  Concerning  some  of  the  items 
figures  are  not  available — they  are  too  subtle 
to  lend  themselves  to  mathematical  demon- 
stration. For  instance,  the  number  of  men 
who  have  been  crowded  out  by  women  work- 
ers and  who  must  stay  at  home  and  do  house- 
work and  tend  the  children;  the  number  of 
husbands  who  have  been  driven  to  drink  be- 
cause of  poor  cooking  and  insanitary  homes 
caused  by  wives  who,  before  marriage,  were 
compelled  to  earn  their  own  livelihood  and 
have  since  been  compelled  to  help  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  family ;  the  number  of  women  who 
have  been  ruined  in  health  by  the  frightful 
conditions  under  which  they  toil,  and  the 
number  which  low  wages  drive  to  a  life  of 
shame,  etc.  Figures  here  can  give  no  satis- 
factory  answer,  but  the  baneful  results  are  ev- 
ident in  all  directions.  If  the  results  could  be 
tabulated,  they  would  be  appalling! 

We  are  fortunate  to  have  figures  regarding 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM  121 

the  bearing  of  woman  labor  on  morality  and 
mortality     of     children.       Mr. 
Morality  and  Thomas    Oliver   has    arranged 
Mortality      the  married  women  in  the  Eng- 
of  Children     lish    artisan    towns    in    three 
classes ;  the  first  of  which  con- 
tains  many  workers   in   shops,   the   second  a 
fair  number,  and  the  third  practically  none. 
The  result  is  shown  in  the  following  table : 

INFANT  MORTALITY  PER  1,000 
BIRTHS10 

Year.  Class  I.  Class  II.  Class  III. 

1881-1890    195          166  152 

1891-1900 211          177  167 

Regarding  juvenile  crime  the  number  of 
offenders  increased  in  the  United  States  from 
14,846  or  23.7  per  100,000  of  the  population  in 
1890,  to  23,034,  or  28.3  per  100,000  of  the  pop- 
ulation in  1904.  As  there  was  an  increase  of 
married  women  gainfully  employed  during  this 
period,  we  have  a  right  to  assume  that  there 
is  a  connection  between  the  two.  The  neces- 
sary neglect  of  the  home  and  the  care  and 
training  of  the  children  by  working  women  is 
well  known.  The  women  themselves  are  not 
to  blame;  the  system  is  at  fault  that  compels 
them  to  leave  the  home  and  seek  the  factory 
to  keep  the  family  together. 

Socialism,  again,  by  securing  to  the  husband 


"Dangerous  Trades,  Oliver,  p.  87. 


122 MILITANT  AND 

the  full  product  of  his   labor,   would  enable 
him  to  support  his  family,  and 
The  Remedy  thus   give   the   mother  oppor- 
tunity to  nourish  her  babe  and 
look  after  the  care  and  well  being  of  the  house- 
hold.    There  can  be  no  true  home  and  family 
life  when  the  wife  is  compelled  to  toil  from 
morning  until  night  in  factory  or  store  to  help 
in  the  family  maintenance. 

To    be   sure    employment   will   be   open    to 
women  under  Socialism — employment  suitable 
to  her  sex  and  under  proper 
Employment    conditions — but  she  will  be  a 
of  Women     co-laborer    with    man,    not    a 
Under         competitor,  as  today.    We  may 
Socialism       be  sure  that  when  the  wife  is 
not    compelled    by    economic 
necessity  to  seek  outside  work,  she  will  not  do 
so  to  the  neglect  of  her  home  and  family  obli- 
gations.    What  Socialism  proposes  is  to  re- 
lieve the  wife  of  the  necessity  to  aid  the  hus- 
band in  the  support  of  the  family.     This  will 
be  done  by  the  abolition  of  exploitation  and 
enforced  idleness.    In  cases  where  the  wife  is 
at  liberty  and  desired  to  engage  in  public  em- 
ployment she  could  do  so  without  neglecting 
her  home,  for  the  hours  of  service  under  So- 
cialism would  be  reduced  to  three  or  four  at 
the  most.    This  is  quite  a  different  thing  from 
compelling  her  to  work  from  morn  till  night 
or  see  her  children  suffer  for  want  of  bread. 
Under  Socialism  women  will  be  economically 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 123 

free  and  whether  married  or  single  they  can 
earn  their  own  livelihood  in  decency  and  self- 
respect  if  they  so  desire.  This  fact  will  do 
away  with  the  matrimonial  market — the  mar- 
rying merely  for  a  home.  When  women  are 
economically  free  they  will  only  marry  for 
love.  Socialism  would  furnish  the  conditions 
for  right  marital  relations.  The  present  sys- 
tem is  thus  against  the  home  and  family — 
in  thousands  of  instances  it  prevents  the  estab- 
lishment of  homes,  and  in  thousands  of  in- 
stances it  destroys  every  real  semblance  of  a 
home  where  one  is  supposed  to  be  established. 
A  home  and  family  without  wife  and  chil- 
dren— with  wife  and  children  in  factory  and 
mill — is  a  misnomer.  Socialism  would  remove 
this  evil. 
(3)  By  Abolishing  Prostitution  or  the  Social 

Evil 

The   extent   of   this   evil   is   something   ap- 
palling.   Dr.  Jean  T.  Zimmerman,  president  of 
the    White    Cross    League,    in 
Extent  of  the  an  address  before  the  Wood- 
Social  Evil     lawn   Woman's    Club   of   Chi- 
cago in  1909,  placed  the  num- 
ber of  "white  slaves"  in  the  United  States  at 
300,000.     Rev.  Aspinwall   C.   McQuaig,  vice- 
president  of  trie  "National  League  for  Promo- 
tion of  Purity,"  places  the  number  at  500,000. 
Mrs.  Kate  R.  O'Hare,  a  rescue  mission  worker 
of  much  experience,  estimates  that  there  are 


124 MILITANT  AND 

600,000  public  prostitutes  in  the  United  States 
and  possibly  as  many  more  who  sacrifice  their 
chastity  in  connection  with  other  means  of 
livelihood.  Hon.  E.  T.  Gerry  places  the  num- 
ber in  New  York  City  at  40,000.  Air.  Geo. 
K.  Turner  says  there  are  10,000  professional 
prostitutes  in  Chicago,  and  Mr.  Goodchilds 
writes  of  Philadelphia  that  the  number  of 
fallen  women  is  5,000  at  least.  The  evil  is 
everywhere  present^ — in  every  city  and  town. 
In  the  older  cities  of  Europe  the  condition 
is  probably  even  worse.  General  Booth,  in 
his  "Darkest  England,"  estimates  the  num- 
ber of  prostitutes  in  London  at  30,000.  In 
Berlin  a  commission  appointed  by  the  Society 
of  Medicine  found  4,364  fallen  women  recog- 
nized by  the  police,  and  estimated  that  the 
total  number  was  from  40,000  to  50,000.  In 
Paris  the  Prefect  of  Police  places  the  number 
at  100,000.  And  what  is  true  of  the  large  cities 
in  both  America  and  Europe  is  equally  true 
of  the  ^mailer  ones  in  proportion  to  the  size. 

There  are  two  chief  causes  of  the  Social  Evil 
— poverty  and  profit. 

(a)  Poverty.  There  are  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  women  and  young  girls  who  are 
driven  to  sell  their  bodies  under  the  pressure 
of  economic  needs. 

Mr.  Stead,  in  "If  Christ  Came  to  Chicago/' 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 125 

gives  the  testimony  of  Dora  Claflin,  the 
"Madam"  of  a  house  of  ill- 
Choice  Not  fame.  She  says,  "Prostitution 
Voluntary  is  an  effect,  not  a  careless,  vol- 
untary choice  on  the  part  of 
the  fallen.  Girls  do  not  elect  to  cast  themselves 
away.  They  are  driven  to  the  haunts  of  vice. 
The  more  distinctively  womanly  a  girl  is — and 
I  mean  by  that  the  more  she  has  beauty,  deli- 
cacy, love  of  dress  and  adornment,  feminine 
weakness — the  easier  a  mark  she  is  for  the  de- 
signing. And  the  designers  are  not  wanting. 
Girls,  and  I  say  this  emphatically,  are  not  se- 
ducers. They  have  intimate  delicacy  and  re- 
finement. I  say  honestly  that  I  do  not  believe 
that  one  woman  in  10,000  would  cast  herself 
at  the  feet  of  lust  except  under  duress  or  under 
the  force  of  circumstances.  The  recruiting 
grounds  of  the  bagnio  are  the  stores,  where 
girls  work  long  hours  for  small  pay;  the 
homes  that  have  few  comforts,  and  practically 
no  pleasures ;  the  streets,  where  girls  are  often 
cast,  still  unknown  to  spi,  but  in  want  and  with- 
out shelter;  in  a  word,  places  outside  the  levee, 
where  distress  and  temptation  stand  ever  pres- 
ent as  a  menace  to  purity  and  rectitude;  be- 
hind every  effect  there  is  a  cause.  In  the  case 
of  prostitution,  the  real  cause  lies  not  in  the 
girls  who  fall,  but  in  the  social  conditions  that 
make  the  fall  easy,  and  the  men  who  tempt  to 
the  step  and  furnish  the  money  to  support 
degradation  after  the  step  has  been  taken.  Be- 


126        MILITANT  AND 

fore  reform  in  the  levee  is  possible,  there  must 
be  reform  in  the  home,  on  the  mart." 

Mr.  Bliss,  in  his  "Encyclopedia  of  Social  Re- 
form," quotes  the  above  and  comments  as  fol- 
lows: "All  writers  on  the  subject  agree  in 
the  fact  that  poverty  leads  to  much  prostitu- 
tion, and  that  in  stores,  factories  and  offices, 
salesgirls,  working  girls  and  typewriters  are 
drawn  or  lured  by  the  lack  of  money  or  the  de- 
sire for  money."  Again,  he  says,  "The  su- 
preme social  cause  of  prostitution  we  believe 
to  be  the  bad  housing  of  the  poor,  resulting 
from  low  wages,  and  the  poverty  of  the  great 
masses  in  our  cities." 

Thousands  of  women  in  factories  and  stores 
do  not  receive  sufficient  wages  to  enable  them 
to  support  themselves — say  nothing  of  rela- 
tives who  are  frequently  dependent  upon  them 
— and  the  only  way  open  to  them  is  to  sup- 
plement the  low  wages  by  the  sale  of  their 
virtue. 

There  is  another  aspect  of  the  question 
closely  connected  with  this  and  well  worth  con- 
sidering. Not  only  do  men  of 
Another  large  means  victimize  women 
Aspect  who  receive  insufficient  wages 
for  their  necessities,  but  the 
men  of  small  means  who  receive  insufficient 
income  to  support  families  resort  to  the  chief 
places  where  women  sell  their  persons  and  so 
help  create  a  demand  for  the  business.  Thou- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 127 

sands  of  young  men  today  are  deterred  from 
marriage  because  their  wages  are  not  sufficient 
to  maintain  wife  and  family. 

(b)    Profit.     The  organized  traffic  in  girls 
is  for  profit.    Large  interests  are  concerned  in 

the  exploitation  of  prostitutes 
Traffic  — criminal  hotels,  houses  of  ill- 
in  Girls  fame,  cheap  dance  halls  and 

saloons,  and  men  who  deal  in 
women  for  a  trade.  "These  places,"  says  Mr. 
Turner,  "cater  to  the  demand  for  ruining  young 
girls — especially  the  low  paid  employees  of 
department  stores  and  factories,  which  furnish 
the  majority  of  the  English  speaking  women 
in  the  profession  in  Chicago.  The  dance  halls 
and  irregular  saloons  also  take  a  part  of  the 
profit  from  this  source.  The  direct  business  of 
supplying  women  to  the  trade,  while  not  so 
large  as  these  others,  is  also  profitable.  Some 
of  the  more  enterprising  of  the  keepers  of  the 
regular  houses  of  ill-fame  have  private  ar- 
rangements with  men,  who  ruin  young  girls  for 
their  use."1  He  also  mentions  the  regular 
organized  business  in  this  line  which  extends 
through  all  the  large  cities,  with  centers  in 
New  York,  Boston,  Chicago  and  New  Orleans. 
Thismaybeconnectedwith  the  same  syndicates 
which  the  president  of  the  Woman's  National 
Industrial  League  stated  to  the  House  Com- 


iMcClure's,  April,  1907. 


_128 MILITANT  AXD 

mittee  which  was  investigating  the  immigrant 
question  a  few  years  ago  that  "exist  in  New 
York  and  Boston  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
fresh  young  girls  from  immigrants  arriving  in 
this  country  for  houses  of  ill-fame;  agents  of 
the  business  go  abroad  and  assist  in  this  nefa- 
rious business.  Immigrants  arriving  in  New 
York  furnish  20,000  victims  annually."2 

Although  much  is  now  done  to  protect  im- 
migrants, the  evil  still  exists.  A  branch  of  this 
damnable  business  consists  in  decoying  young 
girls  from  their  homes  and  then  stealing  them 
and  shipping  them  to  other  countries  for  fear 
their  friends  will  detect  their  whereabouts  and 
expose  the  system.  This  traffic  is  carried  on 
secretly,  and  many  thousands  of  young  girls, 
some  of  them  mere  children,  are  said  to  be 
shipped  from  country  to  country  every  year. 
Fortunes  are  made  by  the  agents  who  carry  on 
this  white  slave  trade. 

A  book,  "The  Traffic  in  Girls  and  Florence 
Crittenton  Missions,"  exposes  many  of  the 
traps  laid  for  unwary  girls.  The  schools,  pri- 
vate as  well  as  public,  are  often  made  the  main 
places  for  promoting  child  prostitution,  dis- 
seminating obscene  literature,  and  obtaining 
fresh  victims.3 

This  business  is  pushed  for  what  there  is 


2Quoted  by  Bliss  in  Enclyclopedia  of  Social  Re- 
form, p.  981. 

3Encyclopedia  Social  Reform,  p.  981. 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 129 

in  it.     Do  away  with  the  profit  system  and 
make  it  as  easy  to  earn  a  liveli- 
The  Motive    hood  in  honorable  employment 
as   in   a   soul-destroying  busi- 
ness, and  the  traffic  in  women  would  soon  dis- 
appear.    Men  push  such  a  business  not  be- 
cause they  like  it  but  because  there  is  money 
in    it.      Secure    to    everyone    a    livelihood    in 
decency   and   surround   them    with    a   society 
which  places  the  emphasis  on  character  instead 
of  money,  and  no  one  would  care  to  engage  in 
a  nefarious  business. 

The  social  evil,  then,  is  primarily  economic, 
and  can  only  be  removed  by  such  a  change  in 
society  as  will  secure  to  women 
Change        an  opportunity  of  well  being  in 
Needed        virtue,  and  to  man  an  oppor- 
tunity to  maintain  a  family  in 
decency.     Dr.    McQuaig,    previously    quoted, 
says  that  450,000  of  the  500,000  prostitutes  are 
the  result  of  economic  conditions.     Do  away 
with  the  wage  system  which  produces  want  and 
dependence,  and  the  chief  cause  of  prostitu- 
tion will  be  removed.     The  evil  has  its  rbot 
in  economic  injustice.    As  long  as  exploitation 
continues  prostitution  will  do  its  deadly  work. 
We  also  need  to  destroy  the  profit  system  and 
the  conditions  that  make  wealth  powerful. 
Socialism  is  the  only  remedy.     It  will  re- 


130  MILITANT  AND 

move  the  cause  of  prostitution — the  crowded 
tenements,  the  low  wages,  the 
The  Remedy  poverty  of  the  masses,  etc.  It 
will  secure  to  woman  economic 
equality  with  man,  with  equal  pay  for  equal 
work  and  to  each  the  full  product  of  his  or 
her  toil.  It  would  provide  steady  and  re- 
munerative employment  to  all,  so  that  financial 
reasons  need  not  deter  from  matrimony.  It 
will  also  destroy  the  motive  for  men  to  engage 
in  the  traffic  of  girls.  Under  such  conditions 
prostitution  will  become  a  thing  of  the  past. 
The  great  majority  of  the  women  and  men  en- 
gaged in  the  business  are  not  bad.  If  they  go 
wrong  it  is  the  result  of  circumstances. 

To  sum  up,  Socialism  would  safeguard  the 
home  from  desecration  by  removing  the  nec- 
essity for  prostitution  on  the  part  of  women, 
and  the  motive  to  engage  in  the  traffic  on  the 
part  of  men.  The  abolition  of  this  evil  will  re- 
move one  of  the  worst  menaces  to  the  home 
and  family.  The  purity  of  the  home  and  the 
sanctity  of  the  family  demands  the  abolition 
of  the  system  that  breeds  this  open  sore  of 
society. 
(4)  By  Removing  the  Chief  Cause  of  Desertion 

and  Divorce 

Investigation  shows  that  poverty  is  largely 
responsible    for   wife    desertion    and    divorce. 
The   home  is  thus  constantly 
The  Cause     endangered.    The  present  sys- 
tem of  uncertainty  and  poverty 
constantly    breeds    irritation    and    discontent, 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 131 

which  lead  to  estrangement  and  often  result 
in  breaking  up  the  home.  The  grounds  usually 
assigned  for  divorce — adultery,  cruelty,  intem- 
perance— are  only  approximate  causes.  Eco- 
nomic conditions  are  the  main  cause  of  the  evil. 
Socialism  would  remedy  this  evil.  It  would 
abolish  poverty  and  place  the  family  on  a  basis 

of  economic  independence  and 
The  Remedy  well-being  and  so  remove  the 

perplexities  and  vexations  that 
arise  from  the  struggle  for  existence.  Remove 
these  evils  and  you  remove  the  occasions  of 
discontent  that  issue  in  estranged  feelings  and 
broken  vows.  Socialism  would  largely  restrict 
if  not  completely  abolish  this  growing  evil  of 
wife  desertion  and  divorce — this  menace  to  the 
home  and  family. 

Socialism  would  thus  preserve  the  home  and 
family  by  abolishing  their  chief  enemy — capi- 
talism. It  would  also  realize  the  ideal  mar- 
riage— the  equal  partnership  of  one  man  and 
one  woman,  and  the  ideal  management  of  the 
home,  a  pure  democracy,  based  upon  mutual 
love,  respect,  and  confidence. 


CHAPTER  IX 
Socialism  to  Realize  a  Nobler  Humanity 

The  present  industrial  system  not  only  hin- 
ders men  and  women  from  attaining  a  nobler 

humanity,  but  in  the  great  ma- 
Material  jority  of  cases  it  even  hinders 
Want'  their  seeing  that  any  such  ideal 
Obscures  exists.  If  people  live  in  the 
Ideal  lower  range  of  their  being  or  at 

most  touch  life  at  a  higher  level 
only  in  some  tentative  sort  of  a  way,  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at,  for  they  must  devote  all 
their  efforts  to  the  struggle  for  existence.  Their 
vision  is  limited  to  that  immediately  before 
them — the  attainment  of  the  physical  necessi- 
ties of  life.  Until  these  are  supplied  they  can 
have  no  higher  ideal.  Their  whole  mental 
horizon  is  filled  with  the  necessity  of  satisfy- 
ing bodily  needs.  To  illustrate,  take  a  man 
in  sickness.  To  him  health  is  the  highest 
ideal.  His  whole  mental  horizon  is  filled  with 
the  ideal  of  physical  health.  But  when  he 
recovers  his  health  he  then  takes  it  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  and  soon  finds  that  there  is  some- 
thing beyond.  As  soon  as  he  ceases  to  think 
about  his  health,  his  mental  horizon  is  filled 
with  other  objects.  So  it  is  with  all  the  mate- 
rial wants.  As  long  as  there  is  inadequate 
satisfaction  of  these  wants,  the  majority  of 
mankind  will  continue  to  regard  their  attain- 
ment as  the  chief  end  of  life.  The  mass  of  men 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM  133 

will  not  feel  the  need  of  higher  things  until 
they  realize  the  satisfaction  of  the  bodily  neces- 
sities. 

But  even  if  the  higher  ideal  is  seen  today,  its 
attainment  is  thwarted  by  competitive  indus- 
try. Men's  conduct  toward 
Ideal  each  other  is  primarily  deter- 

Thwarted  mined  by  their  economic  rela- 
When  tions.  The  present  system  is 

Perceived  one  of  economic  antagonisms, 
in  which  the  interests  of  every 
man  are  set  against  the  interests  of  every 
other  man.  There  is  scarcely  a  field  today 
where  selfish  interests  begotten  by  a  selfish 
system  do  not  dominate.  Just  so  long  as  men 
can  advance  their  own  interests  at  the  ex- 
pense of  others,  we  need  expect  no  great  im- 
provement. There  is  no  use  lamenting  the 
condition  so  long  as  we  retain  a  false  organiza- 
tion of  society.  We  ought  not  to  expect  the 
law  of  love  to  be  practiced  to  any  considerable 
extent  under  an  environment  of  the  law  of 
strife.  Men  are  not  apt  to  serve  their  fellows 
when  such  service  is  injurious  to  themselves. 
The  competitive  struggle  leaves  but  little  mar- 
gin for  the  practice  of  Christian  virtues.  It 
puts  a  premium  upon  vice  and  a  ban  upon 
morals.  Socialism  would  make  the  interests 
of  one  identical  with  the  interests  of  all,  thus 
furnishing  an  environment  conducive  to  the 
higher  life.  Selfishness  is  only  possible  when 


134  MILITANT  AND 

one  man  can  gain  at  the  expense  of  another. 
Socialism  would  make  it  impossible  for  one 
thus  to  gain,  for  the  interests  of  all  would  be 
identical.  Selfishness  would  then  be  seriously 
hindered,  for  no  one  could  serve  his  own  inter- 
ests without  serving  others,  or  injure  others 
without  injuring  himself.  The  present  condi- 
tion of  all  classes  of  society — whether  the  pov- 
erty and  hardship  of  the  poor,  the  worry  and 
anxiety  of  the  middle  class,  or  the  idleness 
and  luxury  of  the  rich — are  fatal  to  a  noble 
life. 

The  first  requisite,  then,  for  the  realization 
of  a  nobler  humanity,  is  the  establishment  of 
harmony  in  the  industrial  realm 
Co-Operation  — the  substitution  of  co-opera- 
tion for  competition.  Surround 
men  with  an  environment  where  their  inter- 
ests are  mutual  and  the  better  conditions  will 
inevitably  produce  a  nobler  humanity.  Social- 
ism is  such  an  environment — a  society  of 
brotherhood  where  industry  would  be  owned 
and  managed  for  the  common  good.  With  the 
collective  ownership  of  the  tools,  ard  a  sci- 
entific organization  of  industry,  three  or  four 
hours  labor  a  day  would  be  sufficient  to  sup- 
ply the  needs  of  all.  With  the  physical  neces- 
sities thus  secured,  time  could  be  devoted  to 
higher  things — to  living  instead  of  struggling 
to  live.  Socialism  would  enable  a  man  to  sup- 
ply his  material  needs  without  the  absorption 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 135 

of  all  his  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  fac- 
ulties. The  time  and  energy  thus  freed  could 
be  devoted  to  higher  things.  If  a  man  must 
use  all  his  efforts  merely  to  exist,  he  remains 
an  animal — he  must  remain  an  animal.  The 
struggle  for  meat  leaves  no  time  for  the  de- 
velopment, of  life.  Socialism  would  emanci- 
pate men  and  women  from  the  eternal  grind 
and  give  them  time  and  opportunity  to  seek 
higher  things.  The  energy  released  from  the 
economic  struggle  can  proceed  along  higher 
lines. 

The  Socialist  offers  the  only  effective 
method  of  uplifting  society — the  establishment 

of  an  environment  favorable  to 

The  Ideal      the  development  of  moral  qual- 

Realized       ities.      What    a    society    this 

would  be— a  society  of  human 
brotherhood.  What  a  contrast  with  the  pres- 
ent inequalities — the  butterfly  life  of  the  rich 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  sordidness  of  the 
slums  on  the  other.  Socialism  would  forever 
eliminate  these  shams  which  are  part  and  par- 
cel of  our  modern  commercial  life.  This  sor- 
did commercialism  has  so  perverted  life's  ideals 
that  even  those  who  have  been  successful  in 
the  struggle  have  failed  to  devote  themselves 
to  the  higher  life — the  spoils  of  the  present 
system  have  obscured  the  ideal  of  a  nobler  hu- 
manity. But  this  obstacle  to  progress  will  not 
forever  remain.  Competition  will  be  sup- 


planted  by  co-operation  and  humanity  will  then 
go  forward  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Socialism 
will  furnish  the  conditions  wherein  morality 
and  true  religion  can  be  practiced  by  all. 


CHAPTER  X 
A  New  Social  Spirit  to  Rule 

Social  conditions  are  the  outcome  of  indus- 
trial  conditions.     As   industry   became   more 
highly    developed    and     corn- 
Society  an     pletely  organized  and  the  divi- 
Organism      sion  of  labor  more   extended, 
the  oneness  of  the  life  of  soci- 
ety became   more   real,   but  society  will   not 
come  to  complete  self-consciousness — a  realiza- 
tion of  the  fact  that  it  is  an  organism4 — until 
the  present  system  gives  way  to   Socialism. 

*There  may  be  danger  in  describing  society  as  an 
organism,  especially  if  the  analogy  between  the  soul 
and  bodily  organism  is  carried  to  the  extreme,  but 
there  is  a  truth  here  that  can  be  expressed  in  no 
better  way.  While  each  individual  has  his  own  in- 
dependent life  within  certain  limits,  still  there  is  an 
interdependence  and  interrelation  of  each  and  all  in 
modern  society  which  is  well  expressed  by  the  term 
"organism."  But  to  identify  the  social  organism 
with  the  State  and  claim  for  the  State  an  independent 
existence  over  which  the  citizens  have  no  power,  as 
done  by  some,  is  to  lead  to  error.  Mr.  Hillquit  well 
says,  "The  State  is  not  the  voluntary  and  arbitrary 
creation  of  man,  but  it  is  just  as  little  a  factor  im- 
posed on  man  by  some  power  outside  of  him.  The 
State  is  the  product  of  logical  historical  development. 
.  .  .  The  State  has  the  power  to  regulate  the  con- 
duct of  its  individual  citizens,  but  its  citizens  have 
the  power  to  determine  the  scope  and  nature  of  such 
regulations."  (Socialism  in  Theory  and  Practice, 
P.  24.). 


138 MILITANT  AND 

The  public  functions  and  social  co-operation 
would  make  all  conscious  of  their  organic 
unity.  With  the  dawn  of  this  organic  unity 
will  appear  a  new  social  spirit. 

The  fundamental  law  of  every  living  organ- 
ism is  the  law  of  service — the  law  of  love  in 

action.  Every  organism  pos- 
Law  of  sesses  different  organs  having 
Service  different  functions,  and  every 

organ  is  composed  of  different 
cells,  each  having  its  own  work  to  perform. 
If  these  organs  and  cells  should  adopt  the 
motto,  "Each  for  Itself,"  all  would  soon  be 
destroyed. 

In  the  social  organism,  individuals  consti- 
tute cells  and  social   groups  organs.     When 

these  cells  and  organs  fail  to 

Result  of      recognize  and  be  governed  by 

Disobedience  the  law  of  the  organism,  which 

is  the  law  of  service,  of  co- 
operation, then  destruction  results.  The  count- 
less evils  around  us  are  disorders  of  this  great 
body  due  to  the  parts  working  separately  and 
competitively  without  a  common  object,  in- 
stead of  working  together  as  a  unity  for  the 
good  of  the  whole.  The  social  diseases,  then, 
from  which  we  suffer  are  due  to  a  failure  of 
individuals  and  groups  to  obey  this  law  of  the 
social  organism.  But  it  is  impossible  for  the 
parts  to  obey  this  law  in  the  present  indus- 
trial conditions.  Co-operation  cannot  exist  be- 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 139 

tween  industrial  cells  and  groups  except  by 
abandoning  the  principle  of  competitive  indus- 
try. This  the  employing  class  are  rapidly 
doing,  but  to  be  effective  in  removing  the  evils 
from  which  we  suffer  all  must  co-operate  upon 
an  equal  footing  in  the  production  and  distribu- 
tion of  wealth.  This  would  necessitate  a  rea- 
lization of  the  Socialist  program — the  collective 
ownership  of  the  modern  tools  of  industry. 

Socialism  would  introduce  harmony  into  the 

industrial  and  social  organism,   the  harmony 

that  results  from  obedience  to 

Harmony      organic  law.    Anarchy  and  dis- 

Introduced  cord  are  anti-social,  and  result 
from  the  present  anti-social 
system  of  industry.  Socialism  is  the  law  of 
service  and  co-operation  in  action.  The  law  of 
service  can  never  be  the  fundamental  law  of 
either  the  individual  or  social  life  so  long  as  the 
present  system  exists — all  attempts  to  regen- 
erate society  under  such  conditions  must  neces- 
sarily fail.  We  need  not  expect  the  ideal  of 
brotherly  love  to  be  realized  in  a  system  of  an- 
tagonisms. Competition  brutalizes  men  and 
negatives  the  highest  instincts  and  aspirations. 
It  turns  the  naturally  kind  and  sympathetic 
into  moral  monsters.  No,  the  spirit  of  love 
and  harmony  is  not  the  outcome  of  the  present 
industrial  order;  you  cannot  gather  grapes 
from  thorns  nor  figs  from  thistles.  You  can- 
not expect  the  qualities  of  love,  tenderness, 


140 MILITANT  AND  

helpfulness,  sympathy  and  harmony  to  result 
from  a  system  of  competitive  struggles  for  the 
necessities  of  life. 

In  this  final  organization  of  society,  the 
highest  rule  of  conduct,  the  ethical  sanction, 
will  consist  in  that  which 
The  Ethical  makes  for  cohesion  and  social 
Sanction  well-being.  The  test  of  per- 
sonal character  will  be  the  pos- 
session of  social  qualities  and  a  zeal  for  definite 
social  ends.  All  acts  which  militate  against 
the  collective  well-being  would  immediately 
turn  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  individual  him- 
self, thus  teaching  him  that  such  conduct  is 
contrary  to  his  own  personal  welfare.  In  an 
economy  of  equal  opportunity,  respect  for  the 
well-being  of  another  is  in  accord  with  the 
egoism  of  the  individual,  because  every  act 
accorded  to  others  inevitably  reacts  on  the 
agent  himself.  In  this  future  state  of  society, 
self-interest  will  be  identical  with  social-inter- 
est— the  interests  of  all  will  be  the  same.  As 
we  have  seen,  no  one  could  serve  his  own  inter- 
ests without  serving  the  interests  of  others, 
conversely,  no  one  could  injure  others  without 
injuring  himself.  Socialism  would  realize  the 
solidarity  of  mankind  and  thus  furnish  the  con- 
ditions wherein  the  higher  life  of  service  and 
brotherhood  can  be  realized.  Those  who  are 
endeavoring  to  realize  the  religious  ideal  should 
also  work  to  establish  conditions  favorable  to 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 


141 


that  end.     Socialism  would  realize  the  loftiest 
dreams  and  noblest  ideals  of  the  ages. 

Socialism  would  realize  a  new  social  spirit — 
the  spirit  of  love,  brotherhood  and  fraternity 
will  grow  out  of  the  common  interests  and 
mutual  dependence  of  the  new  order. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Concluding  Arguments 

We  have  considered  only  a  few  of  the  ad- 
vantages/that would  result  from  the  triumph 
of  Socialism,   but  enough  has 
Advantages     been  given  to  show  the  desira- 
Evident        bility  of  the    change.     Those 
who  desire  a  better  civilization 
should  join   the  Socialist   movement  and   aid 
in  bringing  in  the  better  day.     We  have  an 
ideal   that  satisfies  the   head   and   heart — one 
that  is  full  of  hope  because  certain  of  ultimate 
attainment. 

Socialism  is  inevitable  because  the  triumph 
of  the  proletariat  class  is  inevitable,  and  the 
Socialist  form   of  property   in 
Socialism       the  instruments  of  production 
Inevitable      is    the    logical    and    inevitable 
outcome  of  the  proletariat  vic- 
tory.   The  political  dominion  of  the  proletariat 
is  irreconcilable  with  the  continuance  of  the 
capitalist  system — political  mastery  and  eco- 
nomic servitude  are  antagonistic.     The  pres- 
sure of  economic   conditions  in  a  proletariat 
regime  would  lead  to  Socialism,  even   if  the 
workers  were  not  previously  familiar  with  the 
Socialist  ideal.    The  capitalist  could  not  profit- 
ably continue  business  under  such  conditions 
as  the  proletariat  would  be  compelled  to  es- 
tablish, and  the  proletariat  could  only  secure 
its  complete  emancipation  by  making  the  great 


TRIUMPHANT  SOCIALISM 143 

instruments  of  production  social  property.  The 
sooner  the  working  class  recognize  this  fact 
and  consciously  labor  to  this  end,  the  sooner 
its  emancipation  will  be  achieved. 

The   Socialists   are   the  forerunners  of  the 
new  order,  a  sort  of  John  the  Baptists  crying 

in  the  wilderness  of  capitalism 

Socialists      that  the   day  of  social   salva- 

Forerunners    tion  is  at  hand,  and  pointing 

of  New  Order  out  to  the  working  class  the 

way  to  economic  emancipa- 
tion. Were  the  proletariat  to  gain  political 
power  through  a  mere  labor  revolution,  with- 
out first  learning  the  economic  lesson,  it  would 
finally  be  taught  it  through  the  experience  of 
political  power, -but  it  is  fortunate  that  there 
are  some  who  see  the  facts  and  can  point  them 
out  to  the  working  class  in  advance.  This  will 
save  the  proletariat  much  time  and  perhaps 
many  bitter  experiences.  The  laborers  are  be- 
ginning to  see  that  Socialism  is  their  only  hope. 
As  they  realize  this  fact  they  will  see  that  the 
Socialist  ideal  must  also  be  the  proletariat  ideal, 
and  will  find  in  the  Socialist  party  an  instru- 
ment of  their  class  for  mastery  of  the  public 
powers. 

The  Socialist,  then,  has  a  duty  to  perform; 
he  must  teach  the  proletariat  its  destiny  and 

mission — its  destiny  to  achieve 

Socialist       political  power;  its  mission  to 

Duty          inaugurate    the    Co-Operative 

Commonwealth.  When  the 
Socialist  movement  is  seen  by  the  workers  to 


be  primarily  a  proletariat  movement,  and  when 
the  proletariat  movement  is  seen  to  have  a 
Socialist  ideal,  then  the  laborers  will  see  the 
futility  of  seeking  the  formation  of  other  labor 
parties  and  will  join  the  one  already  estab- 
lished on  a  world  basis — the  Socialist  party. 

The  great  struggle  for  a  nobler  humanity  is 
on,  and  your  place  on  election  day  and  every 
other  day  of  the  year  is  in  the 
Your  Place  ranks  of  the  militant  Social- 
ists. It  is  your  privilege  to  be 
a  missionary  of  progress  and  civilization,  to 
aid  in  establishing  the  golden  age  of  peace, 
justice  and  plenty  for  all.  There  is  no  greater 
work  to  which  you  can  consecrate  yourself, 
and  the  field  is  ready  for  the  harvest.  Men  are 
ready  to  move,  show  them  the  way.  Carry 
to  those  of  your  fellows  sitting  in  darkness  the 
light  of  Socialist  teaching.  Proclaim  aloud  the 
gospel  of  emancipation — that  there  may  be  re- 
cruited one  vast  army  of  progress,  marching 
step  by  step,  side  by  side,  shoulder  to  shoul- 
der, to  take  possession  of  the  promised  land — 
the  kingdom  of  social  justice  and  righteous- 
ness. 


Best  Socialist  Books 


ORDER  OF  THE 


Co-Operative  Printing  Co. 

5459  Drexel  Ave.,  CHICAGO,  U.  S.  A. 


SOCIALIST  POST  CARDS,  four  different  kinds, 
"What  Socialism  Means,"  by  E.  E.  Carr;  "The  Eco- 
nomic Foundation  of  Freedom,"  by  W.  W.  Passage; 
"Socialism  Necessary  to  Christianity,"  by  Rev.  Jas. 
L.  Smiley,  and  "Frances  E.  Willard's  Views  of  So- 
cialism." lOc  per  dozen,  50c  per  hundred,  assorted 
samples,  lOc. 

FIVE  CENT  BOOKS 

FRANCES  E.  WILLARD'S  ENDORSEMENT 
OF  SOCIALISM.  An  interesting  and  impressive 
collection  of  the  great  temperance  leader's  utter- 
ances in  favor  of  Socialism.  Every  minister  and 
other  Church,  Sunday  School  or  Temperance 
worker  should  have  a  copy.  Two  copies  for  5c, 
40  copies  for  SOc,  100  copies  for  $1.00. 

A    CHRISTIAN    VIEW    OF    SOCIALISM,    by 

George  H.  Strobell.  Interesting,  convincing.  Large 
numbers  have  been  sold.  It  has  converted  many  to 
Socialism.  32  pages.  2  copies  for  5c,  60  copies  for 
$1.00. 

SOCIALIST  CAMPAIGN  SONGS,  with  music. 
The  greatest  revolutionary  songs  of  Europe  and 
America.  Every  branch  should  have  a  lot.  SOc  per 
dozen.  $3  per  hundred. 

THE  A  B  C  OF  SOCIALISM,  including  VITAL 
QUESTIONS,  by  Harvey  P.  Moyer.  One  of  the 
very  best  booklets  for  beginners.  Simple  in  style, 
beautiful  in  spirit.  Clear  in  logic.  Small  wonder 
that  about  1,000,000  have  already  been  sold.  32 
pages.  lOc  for  three,  $2  per  hundred. 


BEST  SOCIALIST  BOOKS 


THE  RELIGION  OF  LABOR  AND  OTHER 
ESSAYS,  by  Rev.  Harvey  Dee  Brown.  Superior 
in  style,  tone  and  force.  Delightful  and  striking.  30 
pages.  50c  per  dozen.  $2  per  hundred. 

PARABLE  OF  THE  WATER  TANK,  by  Ed- 
ward Bellamy. 

THE  MAN  UNDER  THE  MACHINE,  by  A.  M. 
Simons. 

THE  MISSION  OF  THE  WORKING  CLASS, 
by  Rev.  Charles  H.  Vail. 

WOMAN  AND  THE  SOCIAL  PROBLEM,  by 
May  Wood  Simons. 

TEN  CENT  BOOKS 

CHRISTIAN  ELEMENTS  IN  THE  SOCIAL- 
IST MOVEMENT,  by  Carl  D.  Thompson.  A  beau- 
tiful, striking  discussion  of  a  vital  subject.  Egg- 
shell paper,  neatly  bound.  12  copies  $1.00,  100  copies 
$7.00. 

THE  SOCIALISM  OF  JESUS,  by  Rufus  W. 
Weeks.  A  scholarly  and  helpful  exposition.  One 
of  the  best  booklets  to  loan  or  give  to  religious  peo- 
ple; 45  pages,  handsomely  printed.  8  copies  50c;  20 
for  $1. 

THE  ESSENCE  OF  SOCIALISM,  by  Wm.  H. 
Watts.  Excellent.  45  pages,  neatly  bound.  8  copies 
50c;  20  for  $1. 

MEN  AND  MULES.  By  Prof.  W.  F.  Ries. 
Sixty-three  pertinent  questions  about  Socialism 
answered  in  sixty-three  pages  in  a  spontaneous  and 
striking  style.  More  than  a  million  copies  sold. 
Excellent  to  break  the  ice  with;  lOc  each,  8  copies 
50c,  20  copies  $1.00,  100  copies  for  $4.00. 

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MONKEYETTES  and  HEADS  AND  HANDS,  by 

the  same  author,  at  the  same  price. 

SUPPRESSED  INFORMATION,  by  Fred  D. 
Warren. 

THE  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT,  by  Charles  H. 
Vail. 

FIFTEEN  CENT  BOOK 
WHAT'S  SO  AND  WHAT  ISN'T,  by  John  M. 
Work. 


BEST  SOCIALIST  BOOKS  . 


TWENTY  CENT  BOOK 

MOVER'S  SONGS  OF  SOCIALISM,  by  Harvey 
P.  Moyer.  128  pages,  with  music.  Contains  all  of 
the  "SOCIALIST  CAMPAIGN  SONGS"  and  scores 
of  excellent  songs  besides,  both  "Scientific"  and 
"Utopian."  Undoubtedly  by  far  the  greatest  Social- 
ist song  book  in  the  English  language.  6  copies 
$1.00;  12  copies  $1.75. 

TWENTY-FIVE  CENT  BOOKS 

THE  GOLDEN  RULE  REPUBLIC,  NO  UTOP- 
IA, by  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Randall.  180  pages,  neatly 
printed  and  bound.  A  masterful  explanation  of 
HOW  SOCIALISM  WILL  WORK. 

PRINCIPLES  OF  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM, 
by  Rev.  Charles  H.  Vail.  Pronounced  the  best  di- 
gest of  Marxianism  published. 

MAUD  MULLER'S  MINISTRY,  by  Rev.  James 
L.  Smiley.  A  sweet,  beautiful  story  of  how  Maude 
did  marry  the  Judge  after  all  and  now  they  suffered 
and  worked  together  for  Socialism. 

THE  COMMON  SENSE  OF  SOCIALISM,  by 

John  Spargo. 

INDUSTRIAL  PROBLEMS,  by  N.  A.  Richard- 
son. 

THE  TORCH  OF  LIBERTY,  a  superb  Socialist 
solo,  by  John  Spargo,  piano  accompaniment  by 
Platon  Brunoff.  25c  each,  3  for  SOc. 

THIRTY  CENT  BOOK 

MOVER'S  SONGS  OF  SOCIALISM  in  beautiful 
crimson  cloth.  4  copies  $1.00;  12  copies  $2.50. 

FIFTY  CENT  BOOKS 

THE  COMMUNIST  MANIFESTO,  by  Karl 
Marx  and  Frederick  Engels. 

VALUE,  PRICE  AND  PROFIT,  by  Karl  Marx. 

SPIRITUAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  SOCIAL- 
ISM, by  John  Spargo. 

TRUTHS  FOR  BOYS  about  their  own  bodies, 
by  Dr.  Edith  Lowry.  The  sweetest  and  most  tact- 
ful talks  ever  written  for  boys.  Every  parent  should 
get  one.  5c  extra  for  postage. 


BEST  SOCIALIST  BOOKS 


CONFIDENCES,  or  What  A  Girl  Should  Know 
About  Herself,  by  Dr.  Lowry.  5c  extra  for  postage. 

SIXTY  CENT  BOOKS 

THEY  MUST,  OR  GOD  IN  THE  SOCIAL 
DEMOCRACY,  by  Dr.  Herman  Kutter  of  Zurich. 
Startling,  convincing.  The  voice  of  a  true  prophet. 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  SOCIAL  CRISIS, 
by  Prof.  Walter  Rauschenbusch.  One  of  the  very 
best  books  on  the  subject. 

WHY  I  AM  A  SOCIALIST,  by  Charles  Edward 
Russell. 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  CHANGING  OR- 
DER, by  Shailer  Matthews. 

SOCIALISM,  by  John  Spargo. 

A  WORKINGMAN'S  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE, 
by  Oscar  F.  Donaldson. 

SOCIALISM  IN  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE, 
by  Morris  Hillquit. 

POVERTY,  by  Robt.  Hunter.  Everyone  should 
know  the  frightful  facts  here  presented. 

ONE  DOLLAR  BOOKS 

LINCOLN  AND  OTHER  POEMS,  by  Edwin 
Markham.  The  sublimest  book  of  revolutionary 
and  ethical  poems  ever  written. 

THE  MAN  WITH  THE  HOE  AND  OTHER 
POEMS,  by  Edwin  Markham. 

THE  PEOPLE'S  HOUR,  by  George  Howard 
Gibson.  Stirring  Labor  and  Socialist  poems. 

REBELS  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH,  a  charming 
novel  by  Walter  Marion  Raymond. 

THE  RECORDING  ANGEL,  an  entrancing  story 
of  mystery  and  revolt,  by  Edwin  Arnold  Brenholtz. 

THE  CHANGING  ORDER,  by  Oscar  Lovell 
Triggs. 

THE  THEORETICAL  SYSTEM  OF  KARL 
MARX,  by  Louis  Bowdin. 

LOOKING  BACKWARD,  the  famous  novel  by 
Edward  Bellamy. 

HERSELF,  what  every  woman  should  know 
about  her  own  body,  by  Dr.  Edith  Lowry.  lOc  extra 
for  postage. 


BEST  SOCIALIST  BOOKS 


HIGHER  PRICED  BOOKS 

WAR— WHAT  FOR?  By  Prof.  George  R.  Kirk- 
patrick.  A  great  and  terrible  book.  $1.20. 

OUR  DESTINY,  by  L.  Gronlund.     Great.    $1.25. 

MASS  AND  CLASS,  by  W.  J.  Ghent.  A  priceless 
work  on  THE  ETHICS  OF  TRADE.  $1.25. 

BUSINESS,  THE  HEART  OF  THE  NATION. 
A  rare  analysis  by  Charles  E.  Russell.  $1.50. 

THE    CALL    OF    THE    CARPENTER,    by    B. 

White.     A  piercing  exhibition  of  the  conditions  un- 
der which  Jesus  lived  and  taught.    $1.20. 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  SOCIAL  ORDER, 

by  Rev.   Dr.   R.  J.   Campbell   of  the   City  Temple, 
London.     $1.50. 

TWENTIETH     CENTURY     SOCIALISM,     by 

Edmund  Kelley.     $1.75. 

SOCIALISM  IN  CHURCH  HISTORY,  by  Rev. 
Conrad  Noel.  $1.50. 

EQUALITY— Sequel  to  Looking  Backward.  $1.50. 

ECONOMIC  FOUNDATIONS  OF  SOCIETY, 

by  A.  Loria.     $1.50. 

OUTLINES  OF  SOCIOLOGY,  by  Lester  F. 
Ward.  $2.00. 

HISTORY  OF  SOCIALISM  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES,  by  Morris  Hillquit.  $2.00. 

CAPITAL,  by  Karl  Marx,  in  three  volumes,  $2.00 
each. 

THE  ANCIENT  LOWLY,  a  study  of  the  strug- 
gles of  the  working  people  from  ancient  times,  by 
C.  Osborne  Ward,  in  two  volumes.  $2.00  each. 

THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE,  Walter 
T.  Mills.  $2.00. 

THE  BELLE  ISLERS,  Richard  B.  Newman.  A 
rare  novel  of  wit  and  satire  against  capitalism  and 
conventional  religion.  $1.60. 

ANCIENT  SOCIETY,  L.  H.  Morgan.     $1.50. 
BARBAROUS  MEXICO,  John  K.  Turner.  $1.56. 


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WOMAN  UNDER  SOCIALISM,  by  August  Be- 
bel.  $1.50. 

HISTORY  OF  GREAT  AMERICAN  FOR- 
TUNES, by  Gustavus  Meyers.  Three  volumes. 
$1.50  each. 

FERDINAND  LASSALLE,  by  George  Brandes. 
$2.10. 

SOCIAL  FORCES  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY, 

by  A.  M.  Simons.     $1.60. 

MEN,  THE  WORKERS,  by  Henry  D.  Lloyd. 
$2.00. 

SOCIALISM  FROM  GENESIS  TO  REVELA- 
TION, by  Rev.  F.  M.  Sprague.  $1.50. 

IMPORT  AND   OUTLOOK   OF  SOCIALISM, 

by  Newton  Mann.    $1.60. 

CHRISTIANIZING  THE  SOCIAL  ORDER,  by 

Prof.  Walter  Rauschenbusch.    $1.60. 

TOWARDS  SOCIAL  REFORM,  by  Canon  and 
Mrs.  S.  A.  Barnett.  $1.60. 

MY  LADY  OF  THE  CHIMNEY  CORNER  by 
Alexander  Irvine.  Sweet,  pathetic,  beautiful  tribute 
to  his  mother.  $1.35. 

WAGE  EARNING  WOMEN,  by  Dr.  Annie  M. 
MacLean.  $1.35. 

MARRIAGE  AS  A  TRADE,  by  Cicely  Hamilton 

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THE  CHURCHES  AND  THE  WAGE  EARN- 
ERS, by  C.  Bertrand  Thompson.  $1.50. 

MISERY  AND  ITS  CAUSES,  by  Dr.  E.  T.  De 
Vinne.  $1.35. 

SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK,  by  Robt.  Hunter. 
THE  CHURCH  AND  MODERN  LIFE,  by  Dr. 

Washington  Gladden.     $1.35. 

FROM  THE  BOTTOM  UP— the  Life  Story  of 
Alexander  Irvine,  by  himself.  $1.60. 

THE  INSIDE  OF  THE  CUP,  a  great  novel  by 
Winston  Churchill.  $1.60. 

THE  MAGYAR,  a  novel  of  Southern  peonage,  by 
Alexander  Irvine.  $1.50. 


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THE  SOCIAL  UNREST,  by  David  Graham 
Phillips.  $1.50. 

THE  MILLS  OF  MAMMON,  a  novel  by  James 
H.  Brower.  $1.50. 

BETWEEN  ERAS  FROM  CAPITALISM  TO 
DEMOCRACY,  by  Prof.  Albion  W.  Small.  $2.00. 

LIFE  OF  KARL  MARX,  the  climax  of  John 
Spargo's  work,  a  magnificent  book  with  many  en- 
gravings. No  real  Socialist  student  should  miss  this 
matchless  book.  $2.70. 

CATHOLIC  SOCIALISM,  by  Prof.  Francesco  S. 
Nitti,  of  the  University  of  Naples,  Italy.  One  of  the 
most  interesting,  comprehensive  and  helpful  books 
on  Socialism  from  the  standpoint  of  religion  and  po- 
litical economy.  Excellent  for  both  Catholics  and 
Protestants.  Imported.  Over  400  large  pages. 
$3.00. 

RUSSIA'S  MESSAGE.  By  EngKsh  Walling.  The 
heart  cry  of  a  great  people  in  birth  agony.  The 
voice  of  the  awakening  world.  475  large  pages.  50 
pages  of  illustrations.  The  greatest  contribution  to 
recent  Socialist  literature.  $3.00. 


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MOYER'S 

Songs 

of 
Socialism 


128  PAGES  OF  STIRRING 
SONGS  WITH  MUSIC 

Best  Socialist  Songs  on  earth, 
both  Utopian  and  Revolution- 
ary, Scientific  and  Religious 


In  Beautiful  Crimson  Cloth  30c. 
Paper  Cover 20c. 


ADDRESS 

The  Co-Operative  Printing  Co. 

5459  DREXEL  AVENUE.  CHICAGO.  ILL. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  098  366     8 


